


Behind the Scenes

by StrawFairy



Series: Black and Gray [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: #kinda fluffy, Canon Divergence, Exhibitionism, Light BDSM, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Public Sex, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-06-22 01:21:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15570633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawFairy/pseuds/StrawFairy
Summary: The plot of Black is Darker than Gray. Haizaki and Tetsuya met first, that makes their relationship develope into something else, now that they have each other Tetsuya doesn't need to keep following the Generation of Miracles





	1. How Everything Started

Haizaki never would admit it, but he was scared. Three men were cornering him, and demanding his wallet while pointing a knife at him. Great, absolutely fantastic. 

 

“ _ This is ridiculous, I’m 11! How much money do they think I have for fuck’s sake! _ ” He sighs. It’s not like he has an option, so he reached for his wallet and was about to pass it when something happened: a basketball appeared from nowhere and somehow, the three adults were now on the floor. 

 

He couldn’t understand what had just happened, but he didn’t have time to think about it when something grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the corner. Soon he was running with that strange force still tugging him along, and he ran until he reached a park. He heard someone panting. It was just right next to him, yet when he looked there was nobody near, which scared him even more than being assaulted. Then he heard a soft voice speaking to him, causing him to look again and freak out. One second he was alone but the next, there was a child about 2 years younger than him with light blue hair and eyes the same colour. 

 

He couldn’t help himself, he yelled. Thank god they were alone. The other kid smiled and said with his soft and calm voice, “Hi, sorry to scare you, are you okay?” 

 

Haizaki was panting, not from the run but from fear. He was sweating, pale, and his heart rate was too quick for his liking. Yet he nodded like he was fine, even knowing the other kid won’t buy the lie. 

 

And sure enough his nod was received with a sceptical glance, but he kid just shrugged and didn’t press the matter.  

 

Then Haizaki’s brain joined the dots and understood. “You threw that basketball! You were the one who made me run!” He had saved him, just because. 

 

“Actually, I didn’t throw it, I smashed it into his head.” He said bluntly. 

 

“You smashed a basketball into his head.” Repeated Haizaki, with disbelief. This kid who looked like a little wind would throw him had just rescued him. “You must have strength in your arms then.” He grabbed the kid’s arms. They weren’t muscular, but weren’t frail either. “What, do you know how to fight?” He asked curiously. 

 

“I don’t like fighting, violence is bad. But yes, my parents made sure I could defend myself before they let me go outside without them.” Deadpanned Kuroko. Haizaki couldn’t help it, he just burst laughing. 

 

“So what was what you just did? Wasn’t that violence?” 

 

“It was an emergency, I’m currently working on other means of defence.” 

 

“Like what?” 

 

“Pressure points.” Says the kid bluntly. Haizaki laughs.

 

“What’s your name kid?” He asks, and for a moment the other kid scowled. 

 

“I think we’re the same age so please don’t call me kid, unless you would like the same.” He said coldly. 

 

“What? I’m 11, there’s no way you’re my age!” Replied a confused Haizaki. 

 

“In a few weeks I’ll be 11” Replied the kid in the same tone. Haizaki couldn’t believe it, but decided to believe him. 

 

“Okay, I’m Haizaki Shougo, what’s your name?” He asked again, casually putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans.    
  


“I’m Kuroko Tetsuya, nice to meet you.” Said the other kid while he made a little bow. 

 

Haizaki smiled and said, “Nice to meet you too. And now bye, Tetsuya.” Waved Haizaki as he walked out of the park. 

 

That was in December. Now they were in April, and it was the start of middle school. 

 

They were in the classroom and the teacher hadn’t arrived yet. Haizaki was looking out the window when someone spoke right next to him, where he could’ve sworn was empty, but the voice sounded again and Shougo had a strange deja vu. Then something clicked in his head, that kid! He looked and sure enough, it was Kuroko Tetsuya standing next to him. Nobody would stand near him since he was wearing the uniform incorrectly and had piercings, but Tetsuya did. He was willingly talking to him again. 

 

Haizaki smiled at him but didn’t say anything, so Tetsuya spoke again. “It’s nice to see you again Haizaki-kun, it looks like we’re in the same class.” 

 

“Yeah, it’s nice to see you.” Haizaki replied, still smiling. “So what will you do here? Will you join a club?” He asked out of boredom and curiosity. 

 

“I’ll join the basketball club.” 

 

“Oh right, you like basketball. But this school is really competitive, you know? Are you sure you want to join the club? You always can just play with someone casually.” 

 

“I have a promise with a friend.” Replied Tetsuya, and then he told Haizaki all about his friendship with Ogiwara and the promise they made. 

 

Haizaki listened to the story like it was the new romcom of the year. This dude was so… pure. Usually he just ignored kids like him, but there was something around Kuroko Tetsuya that he simply couldn’t ignore, so he just nodded at the story and commented on how cheesy it all was. 

 

Tetsuya just gave him a little smile and said, “Haizaki-kun, would you like to join the basketball club with me?” 

 

He was about to say no, because he really didn’t want to, but in fact, since that incident he had started to play basketball and he was pretty good at it. And something about Tetsuya’s eyes made him nod anyways. It wasn’t innocent hope or something like that, it was something else, something he couldn’t describe. 

 

They both passed the test and Tetsuya was put into the third string while he got into the first. Right then he decided basketball - or life, for that matter - wasn’t fair. He didn’t really care about the sport but he got into the first string at once while Tetsuya, who loved the sport, got placed into the last one, not even bench warming. 

 

The weeks passed and they fell into a comfortable routine. They would have lunch together and then part ways at their different gyms. Tetsuya told Haizaki everything about Aomine and Haizaki filled him in on what he was like in practice. He also shared information about other players from the first string, because he wanted Tetsuya to be prepared when he finally reached the first string. 

 

They played together sometimes so he knew how utterly terrible Tetsuya was, but he just knew Tetsuya would find a way to reach him - the first string, he could see it in his eyes. 

 

That’s why when Tetsuya came back from talking with the third string coach, Haizaki worried. His eyes were lifeless and he didn’t answer his call. So he just took Tetsuya’s arm and pulled him out of the classroom before the teacher arrived. They went to outside of the building and into what was supposed to be Haizaki’s secret hiding place for when he skipped classes. “What happened?” He asked. 

 

Tetsuya looked at Haizaki as tears started to fall from his eyes. Haizaki’s eyes widened, he didn’t know what to do. It must have be evident because after a moment Tetsuya was laughing at his face. Haizaki preferred that expression a thousand times more and tried to keep still in the pose that amused the other so much and made him smile. Tetsuya beamed at him. For a second everything was perfect, then Tetsuya told Haizaki about what the coach had said and Haizaki felt his blood boil. Rage expanded through his body like fire, he couldn’t believe that what that fucking old shit had said to his friend, how dare he. “I’m going to kill him!” He nearly screamed. Tetsuya’s eyes widened, he had expected Haizaki to be mad, but not quite with so much intensity. He watched the other run to the building with alarm, he really seemed capable of beating the teacher. 

 

He tried to stop him but for once Haizaki was having none of it. He was about to enter the building when something made him froze. 

 

“Shougo!”  **Shougo,** not Haizaki-kun like he always called him, or even Shougo-kun, just his name. It was the first time Tetsuya had said his first name, even when Haizaki always called him by his first name. And that simple word felt like an irresistible charm, he couldn’t move. “Shougo,” Then there it was again, more calm this time. Haizaki turned around slowly to see that sure enough, it had been Tetsuya who had just said his name. 

 

He couldn’t think so he just blurted, “What?” 

 

“Thank you, but please don’t get yourself into trouble because of me.” Said Tetsuya with a sad smile on his face. 

 

Just like that, all the rage abandoned him. He couldn’t make Tetsuya feel even worse by getting himself into trouble on his behalf. Also that would probably cause his own expulsion and then, who would be at his side? He let out a big sigh and nodded. 

 

Then Akashi spoke with Tetsuya and he sounded so full of life, his eyes were bright again. But Haizaki was wary because he didn’t like the redhead one bit. He smiled at Tetsuya nonetheless and he smiled in return. 

 

Haizaki was the one who saw Tetsuya working so hard to make a new style. It was him who saw the first failed attempts until Tetsuya did something he wasn’t expecting: he learned magic. Haizaki couldn’t see how that would help, but enjoyed Tetsuya’s tricks nothenless. 

 

And he was the one who Tetsuya used to practice his passes. The firsts ones were good, but after a particularly strong pass that would one day be known as Ignite Pass, Haizaki was sure Tetsuya had made it, he finally had reached him. They smiled at each other and a strange sensation ran through their bodies. Tetsuya was happy because of the promise of course, but he also felt something else. There was something that stirred inside him when Haizaki-kun watched him with those eyes. Was he proud of him? Suddenly he felt more confident, he could do anything. He just needed Haizaki to keep looking at him like that. 

 

They feigned not knowing each other because Haizaki didn’t want his reputation to fall over Tetsuya’s shoulders too. Tetsuya said he didn’t care, but Haizaki insisted so Tetsuya obliged. It was weird at first, but then it was fun so they keep doing it. 

 

Then Kise arrived, and both Haizaki and Tetsuya spend a lot of time complaining about him. Everything was fine, but then Akashi was captain and he decided to make Haizaki quit the club. Haizaki was mad, but that didn’t stop him from picking up the subtle threats Akashi had made. He was pretty good at noticing details since he hung out with Tetsuya so often. 

 

He screamed and screamed in his house while Tetsuya just watched him with concern. He knew something had happened with Akashi, but this was just too much. It was true that Tetsuya couldn’t contain Haizaki all the time, so he still fought and sometimes he skipped practice or was late to matches but still, this was too much. Tetsuya felt like a failure, like he wasn’t enough to take care of Haizaki. 

 

This was the first indicator that something was off. 

 

Then the day came when Haizaki didn’t follow him to practice like always. Tetsuya had already started when he heard that Haizaki was about to burn his tennis shoes, and went to see him. 

 

Haizaki was about to throw them into the fire when he heard Tetsuya voice. “Haizaki-kun, please don’t. I know you can’t be on the team anymore, but we still can play sometimes. Please don’t quit basketball because of this,” He pleaded. 

 

Haizaki saw red and before he knew it he was spilling all his secrets to Tetsuya. “I never cared about stupid basketball! It was always about you! I joined at this fucking club just because you said so, remember!? You were the reason I’ve been playing all this time!” Tetsuya’s eyes were wide, he was flushed at the idea of someone like Haizaki doing things just because of him. 

 

“You… played all this time just because of me?” Repeated Tetsuya in disbelief. Haizaki realized what he had just said and blushed bright red, he stuttered before closing his mouth and accepted the reality. he nodded before Tetsuya’s gaze. “Why?” Asked Tetsuya, he was astonished. 

 

There it was again. If something like this had happened with anyone else, he would had fled. But he couldn’t do that with Tetsuya, what was worse, he felt the need to be honest with him. To bare himself completely and tell him everything, even how he looked at him sometimes. So he just resigned himself and let out a big sigh. “I… I don’t know why, but I can’t say no to you. There’s something that makes me want to tell you everything, to just let you think and take care of everything…ah fuck.” He couldn’t help it, he threw his shoes to the floor and turned around so he was showing Tetsuya his back. 

 

Tetsuya felt a panging in his gut at the confession, he could feel a weird sensation. Haizaki- no, Shougo’s words had make him think in everytime he felt the need to take care of Shougo, in how the other listened to him and how good that felt, the times he had dreamed with the other… 

 

“Look at me, Shougo.” He said with a strangely calm voice. 

 

Shougo couldn’t resist. Before he knew what he was doing he had turned around and was then looking Tetsuya in the eyes. 

 

“You…do you like me?” Asked Tetsuya. Haizaki couldn’t help but nod. “I like you too.” Tetsuya confessed. Shougo’s eyes widened, he hadn’t expected this. 

 

There was an awkward silence where neither of them knew what to do next, until Shougo couldn’t stand it and asked,“So… what now?”

 

“Would you like to… try to be something?“ Asked Tetsuya. 

 

Shougo noded, and that said they closed their distance and kissed. 


	2. The Talk

Shougo had been with people before, he’d had sex before. He had even been to clubs, including a BDSM club that time he needed answers.

 

But nothing could prepare him for the sensation of that first kiss. Not his first kiss of course, that had been years ago. But the first kiss that mattered to him. Because it wasn’t just a random woman anymore, it was Tetsuya. He was special, always had been.

 

Even to the rest of the regulars Tetsuya was special. It was obvious in the way they looked at him, how they seemed to care more for him. That thought made Shougo’s blood boil, Tetsuya was his!  He knew him before any of them and he had been by Tetsuya’s side through his bad moments. He had more right than any of them to be the one chosen by Tetsuya.

 

Without noticing his emotions were showing in the kiss, Shougo leaned a bit into Tetsuya, giving all he had into the kiss. Tetsuya hummed, giving his everything as well. It was obvious this was his first kiss, something that made Shougo relax. He made sure to go slow enough to let Tetsuya catch up to him. He was a fast learner, not as good as Shougo of course, but he would be with practice, and they have plenty of time to assure that.

 

But then voices echoed from the hallway near the incinerator and Tetsuya pulled away from him. “We cannot be seen.” He said, trying to breath normally. He looked at Shougo and from that look alone he knew he wouldn’t like what Tetsuya would say. Sure enough, when Tetsuya said they had to keep this secret he understood and agreed. But when Tetsuya said he had to go back to practice he felt something twist inside him.

 

It must had been obvious what he was thinking, because Tetsuya assured him that this didn’t mean he was choosing them over him, and promised Shougo he would quit the team once he fulfilled his promise with Ogiwara-kun. That eased Shougo, he was the only one Tetsuya called by first name after all, so he nodded and accepted it as truth.

 

“Will you come to my house after practice?” Asked Shougo. Tetsuya smiled and nodded before he gave Shougo a peck on the lips and went to the gym.

 

Everything went well after that, Shougo and Tetsuya experimented with different things, resulting in some awkward moments and they slowly made their way to their first time together in third year. It was an awkward and perfect experience for both of them, but Tetsuya noted something was off after a few times and sat down Shougo for a talk. He sighed and braced himself for this, he had been thinking of opening up to Tetsuya with this for a while now but couldn’t find a moment to say something, but now was the perfect chance.

 

He breathed and relaxed. There was nothing to be afraid of, this was Tetsuya, he would never make fun of Shougo. Well, without consent. “I, er, have something to say,” He started, Tetsuya nodded encouraging him. “I, mm, have some different tastes in bed, they are… they are called kinks.” Tetsuya’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second as understanding washed through him. That explained everything.

 

“That’s a problem Shougo. No matter what, I can’t make decent dirty talk.” Deadpanned Tetsuya.

 

“ _That’s your reaction?”_ Shougo couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. “I like that, but that's not all. I have a lot of kinks.” He explained.

 

“What kinds? I can’t promise you I’ll do everything, but I’ll research and see what I can do. We have to talk about this thoroughly.”

 

Shougo nodded, half relieved and half embarrassed. “They are… well, I’m into something it’s called BDSM…” Shougo waited for Tetsuya’s response to this, but he only nodded like he had expected this. Hell, he probably had. “I am…” He sighed, this was tough, he released his breath. There was nothing to be afraid of, this is Tetsuya, just Tetsuya. “I’m a sub” Tetsuya expression didn’t waver, either because he didn’t know what meant or because he didn’t care. Shougo really hoped it was the last option.

 

“I understand, please give me a week to research.” Shougo nodded and Tetsuya smiled, then they started kissing and were engrossed in each other’s mouth.

 

Tetsuya took his research seriously, he went to a lot of websites and talked with a lot of people from that world to understand it fully. He took special attention to what meant to be in a D/s relationship, and what it meant to be a sub and a dom. He now understood why Shougo had so much trouble saying he was a sub even to him. His heart ached remembering the expression Shougo, his Shougo, made when they talked about this. He couldn’t help but be grateful he had been trusted with something like this. He vowed to made it worthwhile.

 

* * *

 

 

“Shit kink,” Read Haizaki out loud.

 

“No.” Said both Tetsuya and Haizaki.

 

“Piss kink.” Read Tetsuya. Again a no from both parts.

 

They had been like this for a while now, sitting on the floor and listing kinks, telling each other what they thought about them. But Shougo’s patience was at limit now. “Aaagh this is too slow! Why can’t we just say what we like and get this over with?” Asked an exasperated Haizaki.

 

“Because there may be things we don’t know but we could like.” Said Tetsuya, he sat in front of Haizaki, with the list hidden between them, aiming for more privacy. “It's good try new things.” Shougo nodded reluctantly. This was a bit embarrassing but he understood Tetsuya’s point.

 

“Spank kink.” Read Haizaki hesitantly. There was a heavy silence in Tetsuya’s room as they shared a look. Shougo sighed, he won’t fight for this even if he really wanted it. “Yeah next, I know you don’t like violence after all.” And what a shame it was, with how strong Tetsuya’s passes were he ought to be pretty good at spanking. Maybe then he wouldn’t have to keep fighting. After all, he just fought for the feeling of the hits on his body.

 

“Wait,” Said Tetsuya. He reached for Haizaki’s hand and intertwined their fingers, making Shougo stiffen, still unused to this kind of contact between them. “You want this.” He said. It wasn’t a question, he was sure of it, it was written all across Haizaki’s face. Shougo slowly nodded, like he was waiting for a lecture on how violence was bad and how they’ll never do something like that. Tetsuya smiled at the sight, his Shougo was very cute in a unique way. “Then we can do it.” He smiled again when Haizaki looked at him like he couldn’t believe what he had just said. “But,” He said, using a tone of voice Tetsuya used with just Haizaki. “With one condition.” He waited for a response and when Shougo nodded he keep talking. “You won’t fight anymore, just in self defence or if it's absolutely necessary.”

 

Haizaki nodded eagerly. Maybe he could have satisfactory sex after all, not that sex with Tetsuya was currently bad. It was great for the sole reason of doing it with Tetsuya, but he couldn’t be really satisfied by vanilla sex. All his experiences with women had been disappointingly boring vanilla sex, that’s when he started looking for types of sex and decided he was a sub. At first he was reluctant to accept it because of the stereotypes, but after researching a lot and finally assuming his attraction to Tetsuya he just accepted it. He knew Tetsuya would accept Haizaki for who he is.

 

And so they were here, discussing kinks. They keep going for a while, discarding kinks and letting others on the ‘maybe’ list.

 

Finally they finished the long list. Haizaki let out a relieved sigh.

 

“Great, can we fuck now?” He asked. Tetsuya chuckled at that and gave him a rare smile.

 

“If you ask correctly.” He replied. Haizaki smirked. They stood and then he slowly started to undress, one piece of clothes at time, putting on a show for Tetsuya, who remained with his usual poker face even when his eyes were glued to Haizaki’s body.

 

Haizaki finally finished his improvised strip-tease and sat naked on the bed with Tetsuya standing in front of him. He looked Tetsuya in the eyes before smirking and parting his legs open in a offered gesture that made a wave of arousal run through Tetsuya’s body directly to his groin. He never altered his expression, but his eyes gave Shougo’s body a shamelessly up and down several times, putting a special emphasis on Haizaki’s half erect cock and his exposed butthole, before locking eyes with Haizaki, who smirked again and said in a shameless manner, “Fuck me.”

 

Another shock of arousal went directly to Tetsuya’s half hardened groin, his voice was firm and full of an authority unusual in the phantom for most of people, but Haizaki was used to it. “That’s not a way to ask, Shougo.”

 

Haizaki gulped with desire, his eyes glued to Tetsuya’s. “Please fuck me.” A wave of excitement hitting him while he said it.

 

Please. That was the word Tetsuya was waiting to hear, the conversation fresh in his memory.

 

* * *

 

 

“D/s,” Shougo’s voice cracked a little as he read from the list.They both said yes at the same time.This was the one both were looking forward to. Haizaki had researched a lot, he had even went to a BDSM club for more information. So he knew what kind of things it implied and he was sure Tetsuya had done thorough research as well.

 

“What do you want, Shougo?” Haizaki knew very well what he was talking about, he had thought about it enough, but somehow he wanted Tetsuya to know his reasons.

 

“I would like to try the 24/7 someday, but now it would be too much. Also we don’t live together, I think it's best that we limit it to just scenes for now.” Shougi said truthfully. He was rewarded with a small smile from Tetsuya.

 

“I agree”

 

* * *

 

 

Tetsuya went for lube and handed it to Shougo. “Prepare yourself.”

 

Shougo didn’t hesitate, he lubed his fingers and inserted the first finger in his anus and started tracing figures with it inside his body, his eyes never left Tetsuya, but Tetsuya’s were glued to the hand Haizaki was using to spreading himself open. Soon a second finger joined and then a third. “Enough.” Tetsuya said in the same authoritarian voice. Shougo knew Tetsuya used that tone only with him, and he loved that. Haizaki removed his fingers from his hole and stared at Tetsuya expectantly, who opened his fly and removed his cock. Shougo grew impatient seeing how slowly Tetsuya was putting the condom on, like he had all the time in the world.

 

 _“This bastard wants me to beg again or what?”_ He could see the amusement in Tetsuya’s eyes, Shougo was sure he was being read like an open book. Just when he was about to give up and beg again, Tetsuya finished and closed the distance in one long stride and, with a last warning entered Haizaki’s body. _“Fucking finally,”_ Was all he could think while moving his hips, eyes glued to Tetsuya’s.

 

Shougo’s hand tried to reach Tetsuya’s shoulders, he wanted to pull Tetsuya closer. “Hands together behind your back.” Tetsuya commanded, and Haizaki did as he was told instinctively.  Tetsuya rewarded him with a rare smile. Shougo shivered, he loved Tetsuya’s smile, would do anything to see it.

 

Tetsuya gave him a particularly strong thrust and Haizaki moaned loud enough to be heard from the corridor, causing Tetsuya to stop. Haizaki made a exasperated sound but didn't dare to ask what the fuck was going on. Tetsuya undid his necktie, then made a knot in the middle of it and looked at Shougo. “You’re too loud. I like to hear you, but my parents could be home at any second.” He hesitated for a moment but regained his composure and said, “I’m going to gag you.” Even though when it was a statement and not a question, he still waited for Haizaki to say something. He nodded in permission and Tetsuya gagged him.

 

It was weird, a hot kind of weird, being gagged like that. He tried to say something but only weak noises came out. Tetsuya nodded in satisfaction. _“Shit, he’s so hot.”_ The fact alone that he was completely naked while Tetsuya was still fully dressed was exciting enough but the way Tetsuya looked at him, like he wanted to eat him was giving him goosebumps. Then without warning Tetsuya thrusted inside him again, touching his prostate. Haizaki tried to moan but just a muffled sound came out. The pace was slowly going faster, with each thrust Tetsuya started to play with Haizaki’s niples, licking and bitting them until both were bright red. Shougo was a mess, his niples were very sensitive. The pace continued to go faster until both couldn’t hold it anymore and came. Tetsuya untied the gag, untied the knot and left if neatly on the bed, then went to toss the condom in the bin. He picked up a bottle of water and a towel before he started to carefully clean Haizaki. He protested, saying he could do that himself but Tetsuya insisted and Shougo let his boyfriend take care of him with mixed feelings.

 

Tetsuya wasn’t really affectionate even as a boyfriend with one exception: after sex. He would clean Haizaki and say how good it was and kiss him sweetly, just like it was happening right now. Shougo would rather die before admitting how much he liked it to anyone but Tetsuya. He would have loved to fall asleep just like that, but Tetsuya’s parents ruined the moment with their arrival. Even though both knew about their relationship, the teenagers agreed that they won’t push their luck and got dressed quickly to greet Tetsuya’s parents.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long smut, next chapter will have more plot  
> next week are my final exams so I will be dead for a while


	3. Changes

To say that Tetsuya was furious would have been an understatement. He was so mad right now that any other person would be trembling with pure rage, but unlike hot-headed players like Aomine-kun, Tetsuya’s rage was cold. All his senses were sharpened, he was able to see his opponents despairings faces with all the clarity in the world. He burned that memory in his head, vowing to make them pay for doing this to Ogiwara-kun. He didn’t bother to say anything to Akashi-kun or the others, he knew that like all his previous interventions would fall on deaf ears. So he just did as he planned beforehand, he marched directly to their coach without paying attention to his teammates, who didn’t notice him, not even Akashi, and handed the coach his resignation letter. Tetsuya bowed low to him and before he could say anything or open the letter, proceeded to leave his now ex-teammates without so much as a goodbye, they didn’t deserve it. After what they had done to not only Ogiwara-kun but Shougo as well, he was done with them. They had hurt two of the most important people to him after his family, this meant war. 

 

After exit the building he texted Ogiwara-kun immediately, saying that he despised how he and his team were treated and that he had vowed to himself to make them pay for what they had done. When he didn’t get a reply Tetsuya sighed, he had expected as much but it still hurt. Ogiwara-kun was his first real friend, the only one he still had until now. His hold on the cellphone became too tight, the only sign that showed he was furious. Still in a rage he texted Shougo, this time the reply was almost immediate. He couldn’t help but relax at this. He may have lost Ogiwara-kun’s friendship but Shougo was still there for him, always. 

 

He smiled, recalling the previous months at Shougo’s side. They were a lot more in tune with each other than before, and that was saying something. Since before they started dating they were able to read each other very well, or at least as well as someone could read Tetsuya in Shougo’s case. Both could tell what the other wanted with just one look, more Tetsuya than Shougo but the latter still knew Tetsuya better than anyone else. Certainly much better than the Generation of Miracles, including Akashi, would ever know him, and that gave Shougo great satisfaction. They weren’t much for displaying affection but they enjoyed their dates and each other's company. For them, all time spent with each other was perfect and cherished in its own way. They didn’t need conventional acts of romance like flowers, chocolates, or fancy dinners, just being with each other was enough for them. You could say they were romantic in their own way. They tended to spend all of their free time with each other, even without doing anything together, like when Tetsuya reads while Shougo plays on his cellphone or just takes a nap on Tetsuya’s lap.

 

The sexual aspect of their relationship had started slow at first. They took their time on each step, taking months to get ready for their first time. But after their kinks discussion they had been fast to experiment all kind of things. Some of them hadn’t been for them, like role playing. It bored someone as straightforward as Shougo, who just kept forgetting his role and Tetsuya didn’t like to pretend he was something he wasn’t, so they discarded it in the middle of the act. Others things like bondage were a success, they even tried suspension once, but for that they needed to go to a special place and they still were students that couldn’t afford to go there all the time. They also had visited a nearby BDSM club, Shougo using a false ID and Tetsuya using his misdirection. Tetsuya was reluctant at first, he didn’t want to do it, it wasn’t right. But his need for more knowledge and proper training weighed more on him. At Tetsuya’s insistence they had spent all their money on dom and sub training, he didn’t want to make a mistake with someone as important to him as Shougo. 

 

So for months they went once a week to the club and learned all they had to, both courses were difficult, but worth it and they truly enjoyed it. Specially Shougo, who was into exhibitionism and so doing these things in front of their instructors turned him on. That gave Tetsuya the idea of filming them having sex much to Shougo’s delight, and with the collection they now had they could make a life being porn stars if they wanted to. When Shougo had said that as a joke Tetsuya had just looked unimpressed at him and gave him the silent treatment for an hour. Tetsuya took the sexual needs of Shougo very seriously and loved to do all he could to satisfy the other, he even bought a big mirror for his room so they could have sex in front of it. Shougo had been embarrassed but content that Tetsuya went to that length for him and vowed to be always at his side supporting him, Tetsuya deserved that. True to his word Shougo hadn’t fought since the day they discussed the terms of their relationship. 

 

The first time Tetsuya had hit Shougo had been awkward. Well for Tetsuya, who was unsure of how much force he had to use. The first time he used too little force and Shougo had made an exasperated face when said he wasn’t made of crystal, Tetsuya tried different levels of force until he hit the right one, Shougo had moaned Tetsuya’s name in a way that sent all the blood in Tetsuya’s body to his crotch. It had been so exciting he had repeated it until Shougo’s ass was all red and he a complete moaning mess. Seeing someone like Shougo like that was always so satisfying, it was Tetsuya’s drug. 

 

A drug he needed right now. Tetsuya finally arrived at his house and Shougo was at the front door waiting for him. He didn’t bother attending the match because trying to spot Tetsuya on court was like playing the hardest version of ‘Where’s Waldo’ on earth. It was funny sometimes but after a couple of incidents it turned exasperating and he had given up on finding him a long time ago. He had wanted to go just because part of him wanted to make sure Tetsuya would keep his word of resigning when the match ended, but the other part, the one that trusted Tetsuya blindly had shut down his insecurities. He didn’t need to see it to believe it would happen, he trusted  **his** Tetsuya. So he had forced himself to go to the gaming center, where he had spent the evening until Tetsuya’s message made him go to the other’s house.

 

When he looked at Tetsuya’s face he shivered, he had never seen Tetsuya this furious before. Something big must have happened. They entered the house, ate a silent dinner with the Kurokos, who were always good at reading Tetsuya’s mood and knew when he needed to be left alone, something Shougo was grateful for now. When they went to Tetsuya’s room, Tetsuya told him what had happened. Shougo wasn’t surprised, those guys were monsters, not just for their strength but for their personalities too. He was full of himself but these bastards were in a completely different league of arrogance. He was also a bit jealous of this Ogiwara, Tetsuya was furious on his behalf. Sure he had been mad at Akashi when he had kicked Shougo of the team, but not this much. 

 

He may not show it but he was still a bit insecure of their relationship. It wasn’t because he didn’t trust Tetsuya, it was just that he knows there’s something that ties Ogiwara and Tetsuya: their love for basketball, something he doesn’t have. He had tried to love it, but he couldn’t. He liked it as a hobby but it wasn’t something important to him, it never would be. Tetsuya knew this. That made Shougo wary of basketball idiots like Ogiwara or even the Generation of Miracles. “I have to thank you Shougo,” Said Tetsuya. Shougo was confused, what did he have to do with all this mess? “If I didn’t have you, they and Ogiwara-kun would’ve been my everything, and after something like this I would have been devastated. But because I have you I didn’t have to follow them after they changed. Thanks to you I could see them for how they truly are right now. I was already disappointed in them, but now I’m just furious because of what they have done to two of my most precious people in the world.” He said sincerely. Shougo smiled, he was just too happy that Tetsuya was this furious not just on Ogiwara’s behalf but in his too, it seemed that his insecurities were just that, as always. Tetsuya really chose him over the miracles. Even when he didn’t love basketball. 

 

“You too…” He began but the embarrassment won. Tetsuya looked at him with expecting eyes, making him continue. Tetsuya deserved to heard this after what he did today, heck he deserved the whole world after today. “...are… really important to me.” He managed to say. He wasn’t good at expressing his emotions, he was better at proving his feelings with his actions. Tetsuya smiled at this and kissed him slow and sweet, knowing how difficult was for him to say it. Shougo clinged to Tetsuya’s nape, trying and failing to intensify the kiss. After a while Tetsuya broke the kiss and sighed. 

 

“I don’t want to have sex today,” He said. Shougo’s expression showed his disappoint and before he could ask Tetsuya continued, “I don’t want to vent my frustrations on you.” That was so sweet and Tetsuya-like that Shougo smiled, the real smile he used when he was with Tetsuya and not the usual smirk he used with the rest of the world. But what Tetsuya said was funny to him, it didn’t make sense. 

 

“The hell are you on about? That’s why I’m here, for you to use me however you want” He blurted out without thinking, too amused to registre what he was saying. Then he realized what he just said, turned bright red and coughed. It’s not like he didn’t mean what he said, they were his sincere thoughts, but it was one thing to think it and another thing to say it like that, it was really embarrassing. It seemed like he was spending way too much time with Tetsuya, he was starting to be as blunt as the other. Tetsuya just smiled, touched and aroused at the same time. Something that happened a lot in the other’s company, Shougo had that effect on him. Tetsuya caressed Shougo’s cheek with one hand in an intimate gesture he didn’t do often, letting the other know he was special. Shougo sighed, still embarrassed and he leaned on Tetsuya’s hand unconsciously, he needed the comfort right then. The gesture made Tetsuya smile again, he smiled a lot in the other’s company. 

 

“Are you sure?” He asked, and Shougo nodded. He wanted to say he needed this too, to make sure he was Tetsuya’s and that Tetsuya was his, that he needed confirmation right now. But it wasn’t necessary, because Tetsuya knew, as always. 

 

After a session of sex that left both of them laying in bed exhausted but satisfied, Tetsuya spoke again. “I’m going to beat them all, I will dethrone them and show them what happens to the people who hurt what’s precious to me. This means war.” He said ferociously. His eyes were cold and hard, he wouldn't stop until he beat them all. Then he turned to Shougo. “You will help me.” It wasn’t a question nor an order, just a statement. He knew the other would be always there for him, just like he would be always there for Shougo, it was a given for him. That didn’t mean he didn’t appreciate him as the gift he was, with each day Tetsuya was more grateful to have meet him all those years ago. Shougo nodded, determined to support Tetsuya in any way, even if that meant going back to basketball he would start training tomorrow morning. Tetsuya’s minuscule smile grew a couple of millimeters. Most people wouldn't notice, but Shougo was used to being observant by now and he grinned back. Tetsuya threw an arm behind Shougo’s shoulders and pulled him closer, that’s how they fell asleep. 

 

* * *

 

The next day they went to the streets to improve their techniques. Tetsuya insisted both needed new techniques and Shougo admitted it was better safe than sorry with those bastards. They weren’t called that corny name for nothing after all, they earned the title of Miracles. Shougo decided he would go through hell if that’s what he needed to do to perfect his techniques, he wouldn't give up, he would train until he could steal those bastards’ techniques. That’s how the last few weeks had passed, Tetsuya shared how the Miracles had improved so Shougo would have a better understanding of their techniques. One day they were playing one-on-one when someone approached them. 

 

“What are you doing?” Asked a confused voice. When they turned they saw a girl their age, with a whole sports team of some sort behind her. Shougo had a nagging feeling he had seen them before, but he couldn’t pinpoint where or when. He didn’t understand her question though. 

 

“One-on-one,” Said Shougo in a sarcastic and dry tone. 

 

“One-on-one?” She repeated more confused than before, totally ignoring his sarcasm. Then Shougo understood the confusion, as always they hadn’t seen Tetsuya, who was currently in possession of the ball. They thought he was playing alone on the court without a ball. He let out an amused snort and made a mocking face while he pointed at Tetsuya with his finger. All of them followed it and when their eyes reached Tetsuya they yelled as one. “ _ They are synchronized,” _ thought Shougo with amusement. 

 

“SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THERE?” Cried the girl. 

 

“I’ve been here since the beginning,” Replied Tetsuya unfazed. The whole team was speechless. Tetsuya took advantage of his luck to talk with the team he wanted to join. “You’re the Seirin basketball club, right?” They nodded. 

 

Shougo recognized the name instantly, they were from the school they’re enrolling in next year. Tetsuya’s chosen school, he remembered them now, he had seen them in the videos of the matches Tetsuya had made him watch. For just a bunch of first years they were a good team, and with them on their team with that year of experiences they will be just fine, they were acknowledged by Tetsuya after all. He watched Tetsuya closely. He was happy for his luck, he could see it in his sparkling eyes, though you really needed to know him to realize it. 

 

Then Tetsuya kept speaking. “We want to enroll in Seirin and join your club next year,” He began. That interested them, someone purposely choosing Seirin because of them? That was new. “Would you want to join us and play for a bit?” He asked. 

 

They happily agreed and after unnecessary greetings on the other team’s part, since both Shougo and Tetsuya already knew who they were, they were sorted in teams of three, with Tsuchida and Aida watching. On one team were Izuki, Shougo and Tetsuya, and the other was Mitobe, Hyuga and Koganei. The other team was good, they gave a fierce fight but against Shougo and Tetsuya’s combination they couldn’t do much. Izuki was a very good match for them as well, his eyes pairing very well with Tetsuya and with training they could work perfectly together. They won and both Shougo and Tetsuya were satisfied with the results, this team was strong and they will be even stronger next year, they would fit in just fine. By the end everyone was tired after the rough match, but Seirin was excited by the prospect of having these two strong players as teammates next year. One match had been enough to respect their abilities and teamwork, they were awed at Tetsuya’s passes and misdirection and by Shougo’s talent, they would fit perfectly in the team. Aida was so happy that she proposed they go to eat something, everyone agreed and soon they were in Maji Burger eating together. They were chatting comfortably, Seirin wanted to know more about Tetsuya’s misdirection and that entertained everyone until their orders were ready. Shougo was satisfied to discover the team Tetsuya had chosen was able to put up with his character and harsh words without problem. Izuki especially, he seemed to find him funny, which was fine with Shougo since he found the other amusing as well. Hyuga just demanded respect from him, as long as he fulfilled that he could talk and act as he wished. Hyuga reminded them of Nijimura a little, without the physical abuse that is. Shougo was just fine with it too, he could behave and have fun at the same time with this team, he smirked at the prospect. Everything was smooth until Tetsuya cut the conversation with an unexpected question. “Aida-san, would you mind if we join you for training starting tomorrow? For personal reasons we aren’t in our basketball school club anymore and we want to get stronger as soon as possible,” He said bowing as much as he could while sitting at a table. Shougo was not surprised, he had seen this coming since Tetsuya invited them to a mini game. He could read Tetsuya’s obvious intentions and even some of his plots after all the time spent together. It would give them time to adjust to the team before the important matches and training with a team was more productive than training alone. On the other hand Aida and the team were speechless, they never thought they would request something like that. After discussing the matter with Hyuga, they reached the conclusion it would be beneficial to all parties so they agreed. 

 

“We don’t have a problem with that, but I would like to know why you aren’t on your school’s team anymore. Also which school are you in right now?” Shougo and Tetsuya looked at each other, having a silent conversation, discussing how much they should say and what they should keep as a secret. 

 

Eventually Shougo shrugged, leaving the decision to Tetsuya, who let out a resigned sigh but looked at Aida as he replied, “We are from Teiko Middle School,” Tetsuya began, everyone gasped out of surprise at that. But before they could interrupt Tetsuya kept talking. “We left the team for different reasons, the captain made Shougo leave because he didn’t like how Shougo behaved. He was… different before, more violent, he often picked fights or arrived late to practice or matches.” He thought it better to tell the truth now before they discovered it from others. Before the team could interrupt him he kept speaking. “But that won’t happen now, I'll take responsibility for Shougo’s actions.” He said with conviction. He knew Shougo wouldn't behave the same way as before, just because the reason he was now playing was different. Before he just played basketball just because he wanted to spend more time with Tetsuya, but now playing basketball was Shougo’s way of taking revenge on the Generation of Miracles, the ones who tried to steal Tetsuya from him. He will put all his effort on defeating them, Tetsuya was sure of this, he saw it in the intensity of Shougo’s play. Shougo on the other hand was savouring the fact Tetsuya had said  **the captain** , not Akashi-kun nor our captain. He loved all the small things that showed Tetsuya wasn’t theirs but his, and when he heard Tetsuya saying he was his responsibility his heart ached. He liked being Tetsuya’s responsibility, it showed how much trust Tetsuya was putting in him, he would do anything to keep that trust. The team just stared at Tetsuya then at Shougo, who nodded resolutely, so they nodded too, deciding they would give him an opportunity. The kid looked problematic but he had played with the team, committed no fouls and took the game seriously, which was all they asked. “I left because I despise the way they play.” That surprised them, he left the team for a dispute? At least that’s how it sounded. 

 

“They? Are you talking about the Generation of Miracles?” Asked Izuki curiously. Tetsuya nodded. 

 

“Wait, were you two starters?” Asked Koganei excitedly. After seeing their potential he wouldn't be surprised if the answer was yes. 

 

Tetsuya looked at Shougo, signaling him to answer the question, and he shrugged in response. He had let Tetsuya answer the difficult question, it was only fair. “I left during our second year, before the Generation of Miracles thing happened and Tetsuya was their sixth man. But yes, we were starters.” He said without interest. 

 

“Sixth man? You mean the rumours were true?” Asked Aida. Shougo and Tetsuya nodded. The team was speechless, they had the phantom sixth player! The team was ecstatic, they will have two starters of Teiko on their team! And they would be training with them since tomorrow!   


 

Aida Riko, or coach starting that day, was a very sharp teenager with a great ability for coaching. Tetsuya realized that on the first day. The training was brutal, but thanks to Teikou the two of them were used to that kind of training and they didn’t have problems keeping up with their senpai, a thing the team happily noted. 

 

Soon the coach had gave them special training menus like the rest of the team. Both Tetsuya and Shougo understood what was underneath it: they would be starters next year. It wasn’t surprising at all, they were counting with it, but it wasn’t any less reassuring. Once Tetsuya explained they wanted to develop new techniques, and Shougo’s goal of stealing the Generation of Miracles’ moves, Aida gave them an even more intensive and specialised training menu. Which left them exhausted every day, but also content because they knew it would bear fruits. 

 

* * *

 

Finally the end of the school year arrived, and with it a big problem: Shougo’s family would be moving to Shizuoka due to his mother’s job. When Shougo discovered this he was furious. He wanted to be at Tetsuya’s side! He wanted to fulfill his revenge against the Generation of Miracles! He stood enraged as he said he wouldn't go with them, and stormed out of the room. His mother and brother just sighed at this, they had expected as much. It was obvious how attached their little Shougo was to Tetsuya, he wouldn’t want to leave.

 

Shougo texted Tetsuya in a hurry and went to his house, telling him everything once he arrived. Tetsuya had grabbed Shougo’s hand possessively and asked him a question he hadn’t expected to hear this soon. Tetsuya had just asked him if he wanted to live with him! Tetsuya was nervous, it was obvious to Shougo. He was surprised but also happy and a bit nervous himself. He just wanted to be at Tetsuya’s side, so he thought it was funny that Tetsuya, his Tetsuya, who had nerves of steel was nervous about this. Because to him the answer was obvious, he said yes. The relieved smile he received in return made him smile too, Tetsuya’s smile was contagious. Tetsuya guided him to the living room where the rest of the family was. He then asked if Shougo could live with them, and explained the situation. They were unsure at first, but after a week of convincing from the boys’ part they finally agreed with the condition that they would behave and have good grades at school. They agreed to this, much to Shougo’s relief. Studies were the least of his problems, he would score straight 100s if that meant he could be with Tetsuya, who thought the same and silently vowed to make study sessions with Shougo.

 

After that they had to make Shougo’s mother agree, but since it was Tetsuya she allowed it. She loved Shougo’s boyfriend since the start and trusted him entirely, she knew he will take care of his son, and even made a couple of jokes about the things they could do once they lived together, much to the amusement and embarrassment of the teenagers. Shougo’s older brother liked Tetsuya too but still had asked for a private chat with the shorter boy, making him promise he will take good care of his little brother. Tetsuya had solemnly sworn he would take care of him, something that made his eavesdropping boyfriend exasperated but happy at the same time.

 

With that, both families were satisfied and they filed the necessary legal procedures to let the Kurokos in charge on Shougo from then on. The day of the Haizakis’ departure was a sad one. Shougo would miss his family a lot and vice-versa, but he knew he would miss Tetsuya even more. The couple started to share a room and a bed, both insisting they were fine sharing it to Tetsuya’s family. Shougo liked to sleep with his boyfriend and didn’t want to impose even more on the Kurokos. The adults were unsure at first but eventually relented when they understood the teenagers liked it that way. However they didn’t have much time to get used to all of the changes that living together meant because Seirin was going to a training camp, and they were invited as well. But they had to pay for themselves since they weren’t official members yet. Their parents agreed to pay for them because they knew this was important for their sons and they rarely asked anything of them, so they spent a week with their new senpai training. 

 

Everything went fine and normal, but the training was more brutal than usual, and that was saying something. Since their usual training was hard enough, Tetsuya appreciated the new menu for how thorough it was, making his respect for Aida as a coach rise.

 

Until one night, it was dinner time and the team couldn’t find their kouhai, so they started to search them, what they found let them without words. Kuroko Tetsuya was there, sitting on the floor of a nearby basketball court, with fucking Haizaki Shougo straddling his lap. They were kissing passionately, Tetsuya’s hands were on Shougo’s ass, squeezing it with both hands. In plain sight for everyone who passed by to look at. It took them a couple of second, but finally the team began to come to their senses again, they yelled at unison, alerting Tetsuya and Shougo of their presence, they broke the kiss but otherwise remained the same. Tetsuya still with both hands squeezing shamelessly Shougo’s ass. Both thinking the same right now: If this would be a problem then they will have to search another school, they didn’t want to hide anymore, it won’t be like in middle school. 

 

“Is this a problem?” Asked Tetsuya in an unusual tone. It was hard, cold and challenging. He didn’t apologize because they didn’t feel sorry at all and that was obvious in their expressions, Tetsuya for once showing his emotions as the situation required it. It made the team think twice before they spoke. Well, everyone but Hyuga, who took a step forward, arms up like he wanted no more than punch them. With a bright red scowling face, he was about to speak - or scream - when a hand covered his mouth violently, making him stumble a bit. It was the coach, who was bright red too, but seemed more open to accept this, or at least to fake it and so were the rest of the team.

 

Izuki seemed fine with it, an amused smile on his face, Koganei and Mitobe just looked surprised. All of them, save Izuki, looked scandalized, though the pose the boys were in at the moment had a lot more to do with it than the fact they were both men. 

 

“Of course not!” She said forcing a smile that didn’t fool Shougo nor Tetsuya, though they appreciated her efforts. She was giving Hyuga a death glare, sending a clear message: “ _ don’t ruin this, we need them.” _ He grunted but relented, knowing it was the truth. He crossed his arms in front of his chest in a defensive posture, like he wanted to say his reaction was normal. 

 

“No,” He forced himself to say, although everyone could tell it was a lie. “But don’t go doing things like this in public!” He couldn’t help but snap at the end, his tone harsh and scandalized. 

 

Shougo laughed, a mocking smirk on his face. “You’re just jealous you don’t have anyone to shag,” Said with a sneer. He rotated his hips, his ass grinding Tetsuya’s penis and licking his lips for more enfasis, resting his head on Tetsuya’s neck. Hyuga took a step back and made a sound like he was being strangled, an incredulous expression on his face. Izuki was laughing so hard he fell to the floor and kept laughing, he seemed to be having the time of his life. Both Tetsuya and Shougo decided Izuki was their favourite senpai. Seirin would have scolded Izuki if he acted this way in any other delicate moment like this one, but they were too centered in their kouhai to care about him now. They were between awed at how brave was that and trying to not combust from embarrassment. Tetsuya was just amused at everything, but decided to intervene here before this escalated. 

 

“Basketball, especially your team, relies on teamwork. If your homophobia is reflected in your game that would be a problem,” He said bluntly. “So say it now, can you still play with us or not?” He spoke without his usual courtesy, his tone hard and dry. Seirin understood it perfectly: it was an ultimatum, and it was up to Hyuga to decide now. 

 

Hyuga didn’t reply instantly. He had averted his eyes at the word homophobia, not being able to bear with Tetsuya’s cold and strong gaze as he thought about this thoroughly. He really was against all of that weird shit, and didn’t want anything to do with it. But these two seemed pretty normal, and if they hadn’t discovered the two of them in action he would have never guessed they were… like that. He saw the rest of his team and shuddered at the death glares he was receiving. It seemed that he had his answer. He was the captain, he needed to do the best for his team, and these two - even if unofficially - were a part of his team already. “I won’t lie and say I don’t have a problem,” He started, and Shougo and Tetsuya nodded, they knew this and preferred the truth. The rest of Seirin was murdering Hyuga with their glares, specially Aida and Izuki, who seemed ready to punch Hyuga. Fearing for his life he coughed and kept talking before their patience ran out. “But I respect you two as athletes. It won’t be reflected on my game.”

 

Tetsuya looked at Shougo, holding one of their many silent conversations, it was their favourite form of communication when they were with other people. It was like having their own language, a way of being just the two of them even with more people present, like they were in their own world. Both nodded and the team sighed in relief, they still had them. They obviously didn’t want to let these two go, not just because of how strong they were but because they were already a part of the team, they didn’t want to lose their first two kouhai. 

 

“Want us to sleep in a separate room? What about the bathroom and the change room?” Challenged Shougo, sneering like he used to. Hyuga stiffened at this and Seirin tensed as well; they were still on thin ice. 

 

“No, just… don’t do anything like this in front of me,” He said. One look at the rest of the team told him he had to add things to that request. “...Please… I will try to be more… open. If you hold hands or… kiss it's… fine. But you can’t just be like… like this in public, aren’t you two japanese?” He couldn’t help but add at the end. Everyone was amused at this but deemed it acceptable. It was true that doing this kind of thing in public wasn’t something a normal person would do. Unbeknown to them this was because of Shougo’s exhibisionism fetish, and Tetsuya liked to indulge him everytime he could. But they understood what the captain wanted to say, and he was right on that part so Shougo shrugged and Tetsuya nodded, accepting the deal. They wouldn't do this kind of thing in a place where their team could find them anymore. And so Tetsuya let go Shougo’s ass and both stood, much to Hyuga’s and most of Seirin’s relief. They hadn’t been able to look at them for much of the time the boys spent in that position. An awkward silence followed, in which Izuki attracted both Shougo and Tetsuya’s gaze and gave them a thumbs up and a wink. Shougo smirked at that and Tetsuya gave Izuki a little smile and a nod. 

 

“Em, dinner is ready, let’s go,” Said Koganei. Everyone went to eat and they didn’t mention the matter again. Not because it was a touchy subject for Hyuga, but because it wasn’t relevant and they weren’t close friends with their senpai yet, so they didn’t speak much of their private lives. The rest of the training camp passed by without further incidents. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the sex scene will be posted in Black is Darker than Gray soon


	4. Seirin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so so so sorry, I had a lot of problems that didn't let me post this story, I'll try it doesn't happen again.

The holidays passed quickly after the training camp, Tetsuya and Shougo were used to living together by the end of holidays. There had been tense moments at first, when they still hadn’t gotten used to the other’s lifestyle. Like the time Tetsuya had come back home and found the room a disaster, he made Shougo clean all of it himself, a bit annoyed at him. Shougo obviously saw it in Tetsuya’s cool expression and though he didn’t apologize, he never did it again. At another time, Tetsuya forgot Shougo was there when he woke up in the middle of the night and he turned on the lights and started reading a book, much to Shougo’s annoyance, who made clear his displeasure. Tetsuya had apologized right away, but the fact that the other had  **forgotten** he was there made Shougo upset. Tetsuya saw this and apologized once more, explaining he had just woke up so he had been half asleep. That night, they slept cuddling. Other than those few occasions, the holidays passed like any other holiday, with them hanging out alone, with their friends from the club, or with the rest of Seirin, they had become close to them, specially Izuki, who liked to ask about their relationship when they hang out – just the three of them, curious about how it worked with the difference in their personalities. Once, he asked about their sexual life as a joke; Shougo and Tetsuya knew he had just meant it as a joke, but Shougo couldn’t resist and explained in detail how gay sex worked and why it felt so good, explaining with the most minimal detail the ways of stimulating the prostate and the best ways to suck a dick. He added a few tips of how to stimulate the nipples that would work on girls too and he finished with a list of some of the kinks both he and Tetsuya liked. Tetsuya just watched this in silence, amused by his boyfriend's attitude and by Izuki, who had been so red from embarrassment he thought he would die from embarrassment alone. He really regretted asking. 

 

Finally it was time to start high school, first day arrived and both of them were getting ready for the day; Tetsuya looked at the mirror, taking in both reflections. They went to two places yesterday after practice: a salon and a piercings store. Shougo wanted a new look for the start of the classes. At first, Shougo had wanted cornrows, but then he saw the expression on Tetsuya’s eyes – who didn’t say anything even if it was obvious to Shougo he didn’t like the idea. That made Shougo happy, Tetsuya really respected him and his desires, all the fucking time. So he took Tetsuya apart to ask him about it. 

 

“You don’t like it, do you?” Shougo could see the struggle in those eyes. Tetsuya didn’t like it but didn’t want to interfere with Shougo’s wishes either, because he knew how much this meant to Shougo. He knew that even if Shougo loved his actual life and wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed in the slightest - on the contrary, Tetsuya was sure that if someone asked, he could answer in detail how their relationship worked without batting an eye - he needed something to make it clear to the rest of the world that he hadn’t been tamed. It’s something that was true, sex preferences aside, Shougo was more or less the same as always. Though he has picked up some traits from Tetsuya’s personality that he had gained from spending so much time with him – something that happened to Tetsuya too, if his newfound mischief and intensity of expression now were any indicators. But that wasn’t enough for him, he needed something that people could see, he needed to keep being intimidating. So here he was, with two new piercings, one in each ear. Now all what was left was the new hairstyle. 

 

Finally, after a couple of seconds of silence, Tetsuya spoke. “I like your wild hair. Besides, how will I pull you by the hair with cornrows in the way?” he said in his usual deadpan voice. Haizaki almost laughed; it was true, he loved being pulled by the hair. Cornrows were a no then. 

 

“No cornrows then, let’s keep looking,” he said. Shougo could feel Tetsuya’s relief and smirked because he didn’t smile in public; it was against his image. 

 

They spent a couple of minutes just looking at the different kinds of hairstyles the store offered when Tetsuya saw something that caught his eyes. He called Shougo and his expression when he saw the hairstyle was one of absolutely content. 

 

So here they were, in the first day of class with a Tetsuya who had the same hairstyle as ever and a Shougo who had both sides shaved and lines drawn in the sides, above his hair was the same wild silver as ever. Tetsuya smiled, he kind of liked this style; Shougo looked satisfied and that was all that mattered to him, he didn’t care for everyone else’s reactions. 

 

Of course, the rest of the world didn’t think the same. Yesterday when they arrived at home, Tetsuya’s family took a look at Shougo and sighed; they had given up in making him look like a ‘normal’ student a long time ago. And they couldn’t say anything because Shougo’s mother wasn’t opposing this. Besides, Shougo wasn’t a bad influence for Tetsuya; he was the same as ever so they didn’t have any complains. Their problem was all the phone calls from the school they knew they would have to bear because of it – just imagining it was tiring. 

 

The basketball club had mixed feelings about it; Izuki’s eyes lit up and he made an instant pun about it, Koganei and Mitobe liked it and Tsuchida didn’t say anything. Aida and Hyuga were another story. Hyuga said something about problematic first years and sighed dramatically while Aida said that he better not have to skip practice because of problems with professors or else. But aside from that, they took it fine, Aida even said:

 

“Well, at least you didn’t dye it, that would be a problem. Kuroko-kun, I take it you read the regulations, right? Is Haizaki-kun breaking a rule with his hairstyle? Piercings aside,” she added as an afterthought. 

 

Tetsuya tried to remember. “Well, all that it says about hairstyles for men was no long hair, Shougo doesn’t have long hair so he must be fine. I think the piercings will be more of a problem, but that never interrupted our practice on Teiko,” recalled Tetsuya. 

 

“Oh fuck off, they’re just piercings. They never were a problem in middle school. Girls can wear earrings, why can’t guys wear them too? I don’t give a shit about sexist crap like that. I will just send them to hell, I won’t let it affect practice so stop giving a shit,” said Shougo, shrugging. Everyone thought about it, that was a good argument; they could use that.  

 

“Great, now that we have solved this, you two go search your classes. We will keep trying to attract other first years,” said the coach. Tetsuya and Shougo nodded and went to look for their classes. They ended up in the same class – something that relieved Tetsuya. He could take care of Shougo better like this; rationally, he knew Shougo didn’t need it, but he still felt the need to take care of the other and he knew how much Shougo liked it. Shougo was relieved too, he knew that Tetsuya didn’t need protection but he also knew the other didn’t like to feel alone and with his lack of presence that was what will most likely happen; he would make sure Tetsuya wasn’t alone ever again, he would take care of his boyfriend. 

 

The rest of the basketball club kept trying to recruit first years and found another promising player. If they hadn’t been practicing with Tetsuya and Shougo for the holidays they would have been a lot more impressed with his strong aura. Shougo was a lot more dangerous basketball-wise, but this new guy looked like he could kill you off court. In fact, they were a little worried; what if Shougo and the new guy fought? Shougo was dangerous off court too. Well that was for Tetsuya to worry about, he would take care of that, they thought. 

 

The day passed quickly, almost everyone avoided Shougo like the plague and ignored Tetsuya completely, but that was something both of them were used to. As long as they had each other they didn’t care. They arrived at the gym and found other first years already there, most of them looked scared of the bigger redheaded one who both recognized. He was in the same class as them, Kagami was his name. But when they saw Shougo they looked ready to piss themselves at the idea of having two scary people on the team. They tried to hide without success since they didn’t know where to go, and Kagami looked annoyed at their cowardice. Shougo just smirked, used to that kind of reaction and walked until he was at the right side of the redhead, who nodded at him. Shougo nodded back, pleased to have someone his age who didn’t avoided him like the plague besides Tetsuya. 

 

After a couple of seconds of being simply ignored by Shougo and Kagami, the rest of the first years looked less scared, though still a bit wary of them. Instead they started to talk about the cute ‘manager’, and they even had the gall of say they wanted her to be more sexy. Shougo snorted at this, gaining the other first years attention. 

 

“Don’t let her hear you, she’ll triple your training,” he said with a sly smirk. The other first years looked at Aida warily at this. Who chose that moment to introduce herself to them, and all the first years sans Tetsuya and Shougo were vocal in their surprise, previously convinced she was the manager.  

 

“Now, remove your shirts!” she said in an authoritarian voice. 

 

“EH! WHY?” The first years asked with surprise and confusion, but after Hyuga explained why they took off their shirts without complaining. Aida walked in front of them, taking a look at their statistics with critical eye, then he arrived at Kagami. Again, if she hadn’t met Shougo she would had been even more surprised. This guy had even more potential than Shougo, but in terms of current ability Shougo was superior, for now. Aida just nodded with satisfaction at this and kept walking until she reached Shougo, who smirked at her. He had improved a lot during the holidays, his numbers were even higher now. She nodded at him, glad to see her training had showed results. Then she finally arrived at where she knew Tetsuya was even if she couldn’t see him at the moment. Just as she thought, he was at Shougo’s side and, even though the training had shown in him too, he still was barely above average. she sighed, but she supposed there was little she could do about this. All she could do was keep trying to improve his stamina. 

 

After practice Tetsuya and Shougo went to keep practicing a bit on their own. Using a street court near their house, they were there playing a one-on-one when Kagami arrived. He saw Shougo playing alone and immediately went there, ready to play against him at a one-on-one, but then he saw how the ball disappeared and blinked. As soon as he saw a short guy with light blue hair, he yelped. That attracted Shougo and Tetsuya’s attention, who turned to Kagami. 

 

“SINCE WHERE YOU’RE HERE?” yelled Kagami at Tetsuya, who blinked at him, used to this kind of reaction. 

 

“I've been here since the beginning,” he answered. Kagami scowled at him, then sighed and ignored him, looking at Shougo instead. 

 

“Have a one-on-one with me,” he said, a challenging smile on his face. Shougo smirked, and nodded. Tetsuya took the ball while the other two took their positions and he threw the ball in the air. Kagami jumped higher, gaining possession of the ball, causing Shougo’s smirk to grow. This looked promising. They went back and forth, Shougo was better than Kagami and won the match but Kagami looked happy at this, finally he had someone stronger than him here! He will be his rival! 

 

“You’re good!” he said smiling at Shougo, who smirked back at him. 

 

“You’re not bad yourself,” Shougo said to him. He had won but the other had a lot of potential and he recognized raw talent. He was like them at Teiko, he just hadn't bloomed yet. He will take care of that. This guy will make the revenge easier, he would be useful and a good source of entertainment once he had awoken. 

 

Tetsuya smiled, happy to have someone this strong on their team. This will help with his revenge and also will provide Shougo with a much needed rival. Someone close and not from the Generation of Miracles who could make basketball enjoyable for him. He will have to talk to the coach, Kagami needed a special training if they wanted him ready for the Miracles. He had noticed how high the other could jump, a training menu focused on strengthening his legs would be needed. “It was a good match,” he said, startling Kagami, who had forgotten about him. 

 

“You have to stop doing that!” Kagami said while scowling at him, an accusing finger pointed at his face. Tetsuya just looked at him, amused by Kagami’s reaction. Shougo saw that and didn’t do anything because of that, at the minimal sign of discomfort from Tetsuya he would snap at anybody. 

 

The next day in practice the coach wanted them to play against the second years. But they had a problem, they had six remaining first years. 

 

“Um, this is a problem, what should we do?” said Aida. 

 

“What if we make them play a three-on-three with themselves? After that we can choose the better ones and make them play against us,” suggested Koganei. Aida thought about it and nodded, deciding it was a good idea. 

 

“Okay, firsts years, you will be playing a three-on-three, divide yourselves!” instructed Aida.

 

Doing as she said, in one team was Furihata, Tetsuya and Shougo and in the other Kagami, Fukuda and Kawahara. Kagami was excited by this, deciding to take revenge for their last game. Yet against the vicious playstyle of Tetsuya and Shougo combined there was little even Kagami could do, and he was the only one who stood a chance against the two of them. They didn’t forget Furihata either, the guy made quite a few good plays and made baskets more than once, the three of them made a good team. They ended up winning, but the game was still beneficial for everyone. At some point of the game the rest of first years realized Shougo and Kagami wouldn’t attack them and lost the fear they had towards them, something necessary if they would be a team. 

 

Tetsuya was frowning and Shougo knew exactly why. So when Tetsuya aprochated Kagami he was just amused at his boyfriend’s need to let everyone know when he didn’t like something. He was ready to watch the show. “Kagami-kun,” said Tetsuya, making the other jump and scowl at him. “You lost,” he stated, making the other scowl more. Had he come just to rub that on his face? 

 

Before the other could reply to that, he kept talking. “Not because you weren’t a better player, but because you played alone. If you had played with your team you could have won, basketball is a team sport, you can’t win alone,” said Tetsuya, he then left before Kagami could find something to say to him.

 

Kagami frowned. He didn’t want to admit it, but the other was right, he had loss against their teamwork. He sighed, maybe he would have to start playing with the rest like he used to do in the USA. After that they played against their senpai, the first years were Tetsuya, Shougo, Kagami, Furihata and Kawahara. It was a close match, the upperclassmen had improved a lot during the holidays, determined to not lose against their kouhai. That forced Kagami to play with the team, and he realized Tetsuya was right when they won and when he told Tetsuya that much, Tetsuya just smiled in return. 

 

Kagami was in Maji Burger, with his mountain of burgers trying to find a seat when he spotted Shougo. He went to say hi since he liked the guy well enough, he was the strongest opponent he had played in Japan and wasn’t scared of him like most of the people here. When he approached he noticed he was talking with someone. He frowned out of confusion and looked at the seat in front of Shougo where suddenly he saw the invisible kid. He jumped, nearly throwing some burgers. That made both teens look at him. 

 

“Hello, Kagami-kun,” said Tetsuya politely while Shougo nodded at Kagami. He nodded back, scowling at Tetsuya. “Would you like to sit with us?” Tetsuya asked. Kagami shrugged and sat next to Shougo. 

 

“So, you come here often?” asked Kagami after a couple of seconds in awkward silence. Tetsuya and Shougo nodded. 

 

“Almost everyday,” replied Tetsuya. 

 

“Tetsuya loves the vanilla milkshakes they sell here,” added Shougo. Kagami looked at Tetsuya, who was just drinking a milkshake and tossed him a burger. 

 

“I hate weak guys who can’t do anything by themselves, but you have earned one,” he said. Tetsuya smiled, his version of a smile. 

 

“Tetsuya’s not weak you fucking idiot,” said Shougo, amused at the mere idea. Kagami looked back and forth at the two of them and shrugged. He supposed the other knew more than him, they seemed to know each other since before tryouts. They spent a couple of minutes just eating and then Kagami spoke again. 

 

“So the Generation of Miracles thing, are they really that strong?” Both Shougo and Tetsuya nodded. “If I played them, who would win?” he asked. Shougo laughed at this, Kagami was so easy to read. 

 

“You would be crushed instantly,” replied Tetsuya with a blank expression, and Kagami was annoyed by this. 

 

“Hey you! Don’t say it like that! And you too, stop laughing, what’s so funny?” Kagami said loudly, gaining a couple of stares from the nearby tables. Not that they cared.

 

“With your actual level you couldn’t do anything against them,” said Shougo with a mocking smirk. That only made Kagami smile challengingly in answer. 

 

“You don’t need to do that alone, Kagami-kun,” said Tetsuya, which caused Kagami to look at him. “That’s what your teammates are for. Even if we can’t beat them individually we can beat them as a team. And that’s what matters, we are a strong team,” continued Tetsuya, sipping at his milkshake. 

 

“That may be true, but I will still defeat them and be the number one player of Japan!” Kagami said with conviction. Tetsuya smiled at this, this year will be fun. Shougo watched the exchange with jealousy. This is something he would never get, the camadery that came with their mutual love for the sport. He decided he would have to do something to make it clear that Tetsuya was his. He took Tetsuya’s milkshake from his hands under the amused expression of his boyfriend, who saw right through him and took a sip, which he immediately regretted. 

 

“Ugh, this shit is too sweet. I don’t know how you can drink this,” he said, passing the milkshake back to Tetsuya’s awaiting hands. Tetsuya just smiled at this and took a long sip as a reply. Kagami watched the exchange with confused eyes. Wasn’t this too intimate for Japanese standards? He thought about how much trouble he had gotten into for things like this or even smaller in middle school for a couple of seconds and then shrugged it off, it wasn’t his business. 

 

Next monday at 08:40 in the morning, the first years and the coach met in the rooftop of the school at Aida’s request. Then she explained what they had to do to be a part of the team officially and what would happen if they failed. Everyone had been shocked about this, confess naked? For real? Tetsuya and Shougo exchanged amused looks about this, thinking about what would happen if they had to confess to each other. Now the reactions of the people would be a sight indeed. Shougo laughed and advanced before the rest could come back to their senses. He stepped on the bars of the rooftop and screamed with confidence his desire of defeat the Generation of Miracles and proceed to say his name, position and number and then Tetsuya’s. Aida nodded, satisfied. Then Kagami did the same, adding he would be the best of Japan. Then the rest of the first years said their own goals. They just had finished when a teacher opened the door and started to yell at them. 

 

The practice after school was brutal as always, at some point in the practice Kagami had been too touchy with Tetsuya for Shougo’s liking and he had made the other know his displeasure. “Hey, don’t touch him so much,” he snarled.

 

Kagami was confused by this, he supposed it was another weird Japanese thing but nonetheless said, “Why are  **you** complaining? If he has a problem with it he can talk for himself, it’s not like he’s yours or anything!” He said a half joking. The second years tensed at this. They had experienced how jealous Tetsuya and Shougo could be with each other first hand. 

 

“The hell he isn’t!” snapped Shougo, much to the other first years surprise. Then Shougo grabbed Tetsuya nape, bend down and kissed him passionately in front of the entire team. Tetsuya just let the other, knowing he would have reacted the same way and grabbed Shougo’s hair roughly, controlling the kiss easily. The second years sighed, used to this by now. Hyuga stiffened and looked at the wall, his eyebrows twitching and face red. He was really trying and slowly he was getting better, now he didn’t overreact too much if they were touchy with each other or kissed. Izuki was amused and made a couple of puns about it, making Hyuga go back to reality to yell at him to shut up or else. The first years’ jaws were on the floor, they couldn’t believe this and not just because they were two men, but because someone like Tetsuya was dating someone like Shougo. Kagami was surprised, but not so much. This wasn’t uncommon in USA after all, he was used to this by now and was completely fine with it. He supposed this explained their behaviour. They made out for a while and then separated from each other breathing heavily, then Shougo looked at Kagami with a challenging glare, daring him to touch Tetsuya again. Kagami got the message and smiled amused, he raised his hands in surrender. Shougo smirked and then sent a challenging glare at the rest of the first years. ”Got a problem with it?” He asked. They frantically shook their heads in negation, intimidated by Shougo’s aura. It was true, they were shocked and a bit scandalized by how they kissed, but not disgusted, this won’t be a problem. Tetsuya and Shougo nodded in satisfaction. 

 

Next day they were in the locker room when something nobody expected, save Shougo and Tetsuya, happened. Kagami was content enough, he got to practice and play basketball against strong opponents after all. He was changing clothes when he saw Shougo talking with Tetsuya while they changed, he looked at their interaction and frowned. They didn’t seem like a couple, apart from small gestures of intimacy they could pass as really close friends. He shrugged it off, everyone had their own way of  managing a relationship. Then he saw it, a silver glint. At first he didn’t see anything and thought he imagined it, but then he saw it again and this time he saw where it came from. He looked at Shougo’s naked chest. Sure enough, there they were two nipple piercings, one in each nipple. Kagami couldn’t help it, he yelped in surprise. 

 

“AH WOW,” he yelled. That got everyone’s attention. 

 

“What’s wrong Kagami?” asked an oblivious Koganei. Kagami didn’t reply at first, too busy staring at Shougo’s piercings, piercings that certainly hadn’t been there yesterday, if how red his nipples were was anything to go by. Shougo noticed and smirked at him. That made Kagami come back from his trance and seeing everyone waiting for a response to his behaviour he wordlessly pointed at Shougo’s chest, who didn’t seem to care that everyone was gaping at his pierced nipples. He gave them a mocking smile. 

 

“HAIZAKI WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?” was Hyuga’s shocked response. Everyone agreed with him this time. 

 

“We are minors!” said Izuki. 

 

“Hey, how did you get them? When did you get them? Where did you get them? Does it hurt?” asked an excited Koganei, quick to gain composure. 

 

“Tetsuya did it at the club yesterday and it hurts like hell,” replied a calm Shougo. His answer made everyone more curious. 

 

“Tetsuy-? KUROKO DID IT?” screamed Kagami. Everyone was speechless. Tetsuya and Shougo just nodded. The team was in different levels of shock and they expressed it vocally. After a moment they calmed down but they looked at Tetsuya like they were seeing him for the first time. 

 

“Em… Did you say club?” asked an uncertain Furihata. Tetsuya and Shougo shared a look, a gesture that by now everyone took as them having a silent conversation and so they waited patiently, eager to know the truth. At the end Tetsuya made an almost imperceptible shrug, so Shougo looked at the rest of the team and licked his lips, a gesture he often did when he was expecting a strong reaction to what he was about to say or do. 

 

“Yes,” was all he said, waiting for someone to ask. 

 

“What kind of club let minors pierce their nipples?” blurted out Kagami. 

 

“I know I’m a minor, I just don’t fucking care and neither do they. As for the club, we go to a BDSM club,” he said with a smirk. 

 

“Hmm… What is BSDM?” Koganei asked what everyone wanted to know. 

 

Haizaki looked like christmas had came early and explained what it meant with detail, waiting for the answer to sink in and the expected reaction. He wasn’t disappointed. Everyone turned bright red, their eyes wide open and their jaws on the floor. The only one who didn’t seem too surprised was Izuki, who had listened to the couple’s list of kinks and understood what kind of relationship they had. The thing that surprised him the most was the club part and not just that. 

 

“Wait a second,” he said, realizing something. “We? Kuroko, you went to a BDSM club?” he asked, incredulity painting his face. Everyone looked at Tetsuya at that, who didn’t seem fazed or embarrassed at all by the topic. Maybe sometime before their relationship he would have been dying of embarrassment, but after their training and having done sexual things in public he had changed. Nothing about this situation could embarrass him anymore, there was nothing to be ashamed of. He nodded. 

“Wow, what it’s like?” asked a genuinely curious Koganei. Tetsuya then said he couldn’t tell them that, which gave the others had mixed reactions. Some seemed disappointed, while others looked relieved. 

 

“I’m sorry. It’s a secret,” he deadpanned. 

 

“So Haizaki. Why did you get nipple piercings?” asked Koganei after a couple of seconds in awkward silence. Izuki made a sound between surprise and worry, he knew what was coming next, he had made the same mistake. Before he could say anything Shougo began explaining with a predatory smirk on his face. 

 

“Aren’t they cool? Besides they have a ton of uses in sex.” That started a long and detailed explanation of how you could use the different kinds of piercings in sex that left everyone embarrassed. Koganei regretted asking. Just when Shougo finished talking the coach entered the locker room looking annoyed. 

 

“Hey! Why everyone is still here? What’s the prob-” She cut herself and let out a yell after taking notice of Shougo’s piercings. She was about to ask when Hyuga stopped her. 

 

“Coach, believe me you don’t want to know,” said Hyuga, looking exhausted. She took a look at everyone’s faces and decided to not pry for now, but she would get to the bottom of this. After practice she made Shougo and Tetsuya stay behind despite everyone else’s warnings, and Shougo filled her in about the incident. She regretted asking. 

 

Practice for the rest of the week was normal. Until something happened, or better said, something that should have happened didn’t. 

 

One day coach came to practice extremely furious. She was so mad she emitted a killer aura that promised pain to anyone who dared to annoy her right then. Everyone in the basketball club wisely did as they were told for the rest of the day, eyeing Aida warily, who made them train even harder than ever, but nobody dared to complain. Finally the practice of hell finished and coach gathered them for an announcement. She said they would be having a couple of practices matches to get used to the first years on court before the important matches. Everyone thought it was a good idea but couldn’t understand coach’s bad mood and Tetsuya, straightforward as always asked her what was wrong. She looked ready to snap but sighed and answered. 

 

“I asked Kaijo’s coach to have a practice match with us,” she said while still furious. That surprised everyone, Kaijou was much stronger than them! Coach kept talking. “But he refused,” she said in a tone that promised death. “He even had the gall to say we won’t be a challenge so it wouldn’t be beneficial for them!” Aida was fuming but everyone was furious at this as well, they didn’t appreciate being looked down on like that. 

 

And so they had two practice matches against other schools. They chose the starting members of the team through rock paper scissors so everyone had a fair chance to play. For the first match played Hyuga, Furihata, Tsuchida, Kawahara and Mitobe, who won by two points. The next match played Fukuda, Tetsuya, Kagami, Koganei and Tsuchida, who won by three points. Practice matches aside, the training was even more brutal from the day Kajio had rejected the practice match against Seirin. Each day they ended so exhausted they didn’t have energy to do much more than drag themselves to their houses. On some weekends they used Aida’s father gym for practice in the pool, that left everyone exhausted but it was definitely worth it. They were showing the results of the training, which didn’t consist on just on physical training but in analysing their rivals as well. They spent a lot of time analyzing the miracles, Tetsuya told them the last bits of information about all of them. Including their personalities and Aomine’s depression, as well as the problems the others had, that’s how Seirin discovered the story of Akashi’s two personalities. However Tetsuya didn’t tell them about Ogiwara-kun, it wasn’t necessary and definitely too soon for it, maybe in the future. Just like that the time passed quickly and so the preliminaries for the Inter High began. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my amazing beta Darkwoods! I'm nothing without you


	5. Confrontations

The day before the preliminaries for the Interhigh began something happened that both Shougo and Tetsuya were expecting. It had taken long enough already, they had started to think it wouldn’t happen, but in the end it did. Waiting for them at the school gates was Akashi Seijuro, a pleasant expression on his face that didn’t fool them. They stopped and so did their team, knowing full well who the redhead was after hours of discussion about him. Both Tetsuya and Shougo asked them to go ahead, and while they didn’t want to, they could sense the tension and knew how dangerous Akashi could be. But they also knew Shougo and Tetsuya could protect themselves well enough, so after a moment of hesitation they agreed and kept going. Not even Kagami was dense enough to try to challenge Akashi in this circumstance. After what he had learned, he would wait until the Interhigh to face him, all he had to do was keep winning and reach the finals. 

 

Once they were gone Akashi’s expression morphed into something dark and dangerous and looked straight at Tetsuya, ignoring Shougo like he wasn’t even there. “What do you think you are doing, Tetsuya? Is this your pathetic attempt at rebellion? Going to a no name school and then partnering up and  **living** with Shougo? I am disappointed. I expected better of you than this ridiculous fit of a tantrum,” said Akashi with cold eyes. Shougo was tense, he didn’t care for what Akashi said, but knew that deep down Tetsuya still cared for the miracles. He didn’t like that, and he would do whatever he had to do to protect Tetsuya’s feelings. He was ready to throw himself at Akashi at Tetsuya’s signal, consequences be damned, as long as Tetsuya had his back he wasn’t afraid of Akashi. But Tetsuya just kept looking Akashi in the eyes impassively. Akashi was not pleased at this. “Explain yourself, Tetsuya,” he warned. 

 

Tetsuya didn’t cut the visual contact while he answered truthfully. “I came to Seirin because is the best school for my purpose. I will defeat all of you, Shougo is helping me with it,” deadpanned Tetsuya. Akashi smiled at this, amused by the mere idea of being defeated. 

 

“I will show you what happens with the people who dare to defy me, Tetsuya.” 

 

“And I’ll show you what happens to the people who hurt someone dear to me, Akashi-kun.” Akashi’s eyes narrowed at this.

 

A staring contest that lasted minutes began. Then Akashi gave a sigh and smiled, looking like an adult who was indulging a child before he said his goodbyes. That same night, Akashi sent a text to a worried Momoi. “ Do not do or say anything for now ,” it said. Momoi sighed, if Akashi was ordering this then she supposed Tetsu-kun wasn’t in danger and relaxed a bit. Whatever was happening, she would eventually find out. 

 

The preliminaries for the Interhigh went smoothly enough until the day before the semifinals and the finals. The matches went fine enough, it was what happened between the games that made everyone tense. 

 

Seirin just finished their game when Shutoku entered the court to warm up. Midorima was with them and knowing Seirin was Tetsuya’s school he glanced at them, looking instinctively for Tetsuya even though he knew how difficult was to spot him. He didn’t succeed in spotting Tetsuya. Instead what he saw left him shocked and alert, he stopped dead in his tracks, making his teammates curious. 

 

“What’s wrong Shin-chan?” asked Takao, but Midorima didn’t answer. All he did was walk to a mostly surprised Seirin, who didn’t understand why a furious Midorima Shintarou was walking directly to them, this wasn’t in character of what they knew about him. He stopped in front of Shougo, ignoring everyone else and said with barely contained ire. 

 

“What are you playing at, Haizaki?” he asked in a dark voice, surprising his own team, who quickly gathered around, too curious to scold Midorima. He didn’t even notice his entire team was there, he just kept glaring at an amused Shougo. 

 

“What’re you talking about? Basketball obviously.” Shougo replied with a mocking smirk. That made Midorima even more furious. 

 

“You know perfectly well what I am talking about, what do you think you are doing? Do you want to get at us by trying to hurt Kuroko?” 

 

Seirin was left speechless at the accusation, Shougo hurting Tetsuya? No way. The mere idea was laughable. “Please don’t go around making rude assumptions, Midorima-kun,” said Tetsuya with a small frown on his face. Midorima was startled at his presence and at his expression, but composed himself immediately. 

 

“Kuroko, you cannot possibly think Haizaki has no ill intentions. You cannot be so naive to think he has changed. Surely you realize he has a grudge against all of us,” he said with irritation. 

 

“You are misunderstanding something, Midorima-kun. It is true that Shougo has a grudge against you, but he doesn’t have anything against me. Besides, I have a grudge against all of you as well. I willingly partnered with Shougo to defeat you all. In fact, he is just playing because he is helping me to defeat you, he has no hidden ill intentions towards me,” said Tetsuya. 

 

“You have a grudge against us? Ridiculous, I do not remember having done anything to you to deserve it,” said Midorima. 

 

Tetsuya narrowed his eyes at that. “Is it true that you never hurt me personally, but you did harm two of the most important people to me. For that, you will pay,” Tetsuya said so coldly Midorima shuddered. Shutoku and Seirin stood there awkwardly, not sure of what they were supposed to do. Even Shutoku’s coach, who had approached to see what the commotion was about didn’t know what to do. 

 

Midorima stood there dumbfounded, trying to process everything. After a couple of seconds of just standing there gaping he finally regained composure and said, “I see.” Trying to retain as much dignity as he could. The rest of both teams just stood there in awkward silence, nobody dared to do anything. Midorima kept quiet for a while, thinking about what Tetsuya said when he realized something. “...You called him by his first name,” he said perplexedly. In all the years of knowing Kuroko he had  **never** used someone’s first name, but here he was using  **Haizaki Shougo** ’s first name casually. Seirin didn’t seem surprised by this, which meant it was a common occurrence. Just what kind of relationship did the two of them have? Tetsuya didn’t answer and just kept looking at him with cold eyes. He sighed, knowing when to give up on a discussion with Tetsuya, the other was too stubborn. However he couldn’t leave without saying something first. “I will not lose against you, Kuroko,” he said and left ignoring everyone else. The rest of Shutoku stood there awkwardly a few seconds more, not knowing what to do now, Takao didn’t even try to make a joke about it. In the end the coach and captain apologized to Seirin for Midorima’s behavior and returned to their court to warm up. 

 

Seirin watched Shutoku’s match, where a fired up Midorima was destroying his opponents by himself, and Tetsuya was not pleased to see that. In his mental ranking of which Miracles he was most mad at Midorima was at the bottom of the list, with Akashi in first place and Aomine, Kise, and Murasakibara following closely tied in second place. That didn’t mean he wasn’t furious with Midorima as well, it just meant that he could still be polite with him without feeling fake. But the accusations against Shougo made him angry, so he ended up acting coldly with him anyway. 

The next day arrived quickly and it was time for Seiho and Seirin’s match. In the stands Kise is eager to see his Kurokocchi couldn’t believe his eyes, his good mood disappearing instantly, replaced with worry, incredulity and fury. His Kurokocchi in the same team as Haizaki? Unbelievable. If it wasn’t for a startled and confused Kasamatsu, who had been dragged by Kise to see the match, he would have walked on the court directly to Shougo in that instant without caring about the game to demand to know what the hell was going on. He kept a close eye on Shougo during whole the game, but he didn’t commit a single foul and didn’t monopolize the ball. In fact he passed the ball a lot, specially to Tetsuya, a redhead and the point guard. There was real teamwork in Seirin, they were a good team, even when the three first years were benched in the second half they kept their advantage. The game finished with Seirin’s victory. Kise expected this, Shougo was strong after all and Kise knew how amazing his Kurokocchi was. Even at a disadvantage he would always come up with something. The rest of Seirin’s players were quite good too, specially that redhead, they had played against a king without Shougo or Tetsuya for half the match after all. Kise didn’t waste time before texting Akashi, trying to figure out what was going on. His answer didn’t reassure him at all. He sighed, he didn’t want to wait for answers but he knew he wouldn’t get any if he was alone. He needed back up. 

 

Finally it was time for Shutoku and Seirin match. The first thing Kise noticed was that Midorima wasn’t surprised by Shougo’s presence, just very annoyed. So Midorima knew, Momoi most likely knew as well, which could mean Aomine knew too. But he didn’t think so, Aomine couldn’t have kept something like this quiet. The match itself went well enough for Seirin, that redhead guy was the worst opponent for Midorima with his surprisingly strong jumping power. Kise had never seen someone who could be in the air for so long. Not that he needed to block Midorima’s shots a lot with Shougo in the court. And even though Kise hated to admit it Haizaki and Tetsuya’s combination was perfect, they didn’t let the rest of Shutoku do much. Since when were they this close? Kise thought with jealousy. The match ended with Seirin’s victory. 

 

Shougo looked on with glee at how broken Midorima looked, he deserved it. Tetsuya watched as well, but unlike Shougo he didn’t take pleasure in breaking Midorima, even when he deserved it for all the bad he had done to so many people. All his anger at Midorima was gone now that the other was defeated, but that didn’t mean he had forgiven the other either. He wouldn’t forgive them until they understood what they had done, because he knew the others didn’t realize what they had done wrong. He understood the situation was more complex than that, that the miracles had their own problems, even if that didn’t excuse them for what they had done. He also knew Shougo understood this as well but that he just didn’t care and he could understand why. Tetsuya sighed, one down, just four more. 

 

They were so tired by the end of the match that they decided to rest a little in a nearby restaurant before going home. That’s how Seirin met Kise Ryota. 

 

Kise was suddenly unsure if he should call himself lucky or unlucky. For one part, Tetsuya was there and that was always a good thing, he wanted to talk with him about Shougo too. But for the other part, Shougo was there as well and that was a problem. He had to do something to separate the two of them. This was obviously a plan to get at them by hurting Tetsuya, and he couldn’t let that happen. His mind worked fast, trying to find the best way to separate them and decided he could start with inviting Tetsuya to sit with them. 

 

So he waved his hand with faked enthusiasm. “Kurokocchi! Come sit with us!” Tetsuya blinked at him, then ignored him and looked at Shougo instead. They looked like they were having a silent conversation, but that couldn’t be, right? They just couldn’t be that close. The rest of Seirin took this as a cue to not interfere and sat where they could. Finally Shougo and Tetsuya broke eye contact. 

 

Tetsuya sighed and resigned himself to this. Ignoring Kise was one thing, but he wouldn’t escape. So he sat down in front of Kise and made Shougo sit in front of Kasamatsu. Kise glared at Shougo and was about to say something about him not being invited when he caught Tetsuya’s eyes. They were cold and intense, daring him to say something. Kise shut up for once, taken aback by the intensity of Tetsuya’s gaze. After that, both Shougo and Tetsuya ignored the other two people at the table and began ordering. Kasamatsu was really uncomfortable, he knew there was history between them and that it wasn’t a good one. The tension in the air was palpable, and he really felt out of place. That’s why he was relieved when Midorima and Takao entered the restaurant for the second time - soaked with rain after Midorima’s attempt to go elsewhere - because Takao quickly called him and asked to sit elsewhere together. He left with him to another table without a second thought, relieved to have an excuse to leave that problematic table without looking like he was escaping. That left Midorima with just one option: sitting at the Miracle table. He sighed and glared at Haizaki while he did. The other just sneered at him and kept eating. The calming pressure of Tetsuya’s hand was on his thigh, preventing him from making a scene. Tetsuya was his and these guys couldn’t do anything about it, they weren’t a threat. 

 

The seconds passed and nobody tried to make conversation. The air between them became thicker with every moment but nobody at the table seemed to care. Until Kise couldn’t take it anymore. “Kurokocchi, let’s talk elsewhere,” he asked. 

 

Tetsuya didn’t even look at him while he replied. “No,” he said curtly. 

 

That shocked Kise and to a lesser degree, Midorima, who knew how furious Tetsuya was at them and was expecting him to be not so polite. But this was different, Tetsuya was too polite to refuse something like that in such a manner. He would usually refuse while bowing or apologizing, what was happening? Unbeknown to them this was Shougo’s influence in him. Now he didn’t think he needed to be polite with people he was mad at, he wasn’t going to be violent or plain disrespectful, but wouldn’t be polite either. Not if they didn’t deserve it. Kise Ryota with all his fakeness and ego didn’t deserve it. Kise protested loudly, so Tetsuya cut him and coldly said, “If you want to talk bad about Shougo you will have to do it in front of him.” Shougo smirked at Kise’s shocked expression. 

 

“Kurokocchi, you just… you just used his first name,” he said in bewilderment. The fact that Tetsuya was protecting Shougo like that, and even used his first name let him speechless. Just how close these two were? Tetsuya didn’t say anything and kept eating. Kise weighed his options and reached the conclusion that if he wanted to know, he would have to ask in front of Shougo and Midorima. “Kurokocchi, why did you go to Seirin? Look at what happened! You ended being teammates with Haizaki. He’s dangerous Kurokocchi, he has a grudge against all of us, he might hurt you! You don’t need to keep going to Seirin, come to Kaijo with me!” said a worried Kise. Shougo was amused at this, the hand on his thigh squeezed hard, the only sign that showed Tetsuya was mad. He hated when people accused his boyfriend of trying to hurt him, they didn’t know a thing, didn’t know how wonderful and caring and funny he could be. Shougo smirked, pleased to see his boyfriend mad on his behalf. 

 

“I won’t leave Shougo and Seirin. You don’t know what you are talking about Kise-kun. Shougo wouldn’t hurt me, he doesn’t have anything against me,” said Tetsuya coldly. Kise was taken aback at this, he had expected Tetsuya to give him a speech about how people could change and how everyone deserved a second chance, not for him to refute his concerns as non valid. He tried to protest but Tetsuya cut him off each time he tried to speak. Kise gave up that time, vowing to try harder next time, preferably without a smirking Shougo present and with someone else as back up. Since Midorima hadn’t helped him in the slightest, he supposed he had already tried and failed and wouldn’t try again. The rest of the dinner was spent in tense silence. 

 

When Seirin exited the restaurant the rain had stopped. They were about to leave when Tetsuya picked up an abandoned puppy from a box. Everyone began fussing about how cute it was and how similar Tetsuya and the puppy looked, and an amused Koganei named the puppy as Tetsuya #2, or Nigou for short. Then when they noticed Kagami was panicking, Shougo and Tetsuya shared a look. “Kagami-kun, do you have a phobia of dogs?” asked Tetsuya. Kagami nodded frantically. Tetsuya nodded in understanding. “Then it can’t be the team’s mascot, it will be our pet,” decided Tetsuya. 

 

Kagami, who had started to look relieved at the first sentence seemed confused at the last part. “How’s that any different?” he asked, feeling irritated. Tetsuya realized his slip and looked at Shougo, who shrugged. 

 

“With us I meant Shougo and I, Kagami-kun, not our team,” he said and began walking, not wanting to have this conversation so close to Kise and Midorima. He didn’t want them to find out, they would fuss and be all over him if they knew. The team followed him and they kept talking while they walked. 

 

“I know you’re dating and all,” began Izuki. Hyuga, who had been working hard on being more open didn’t seem too uncomfortable with the topic and looked just as curious as the rest. Tetsuya and Shougo noticed this and were satisfied, they appreciated his effort, he was a good captain. Izuki kept talking. “But why isn’t Nigou just your dog, Kuroko?” he asked. 

 

“That is not possible senpai,” replied Tetsuya. 

 

“Why?” 

 

“Because we live together,” said Tetsuya calmly. 

Shougo smirked and turned around to take in their reactions. Everyone stopped walking, incredulity all over their faces, some of them were red too. “WHAT? WHY?” they yelled. Tetsuya sighed in amusement. 

 

“Shougo’s mother had to move to Shizuoka, we didn’t want to separate from each other so we convinced our families to let Shougo live in my house. My parents are his guardians now.” he explained briefly. At the mention of Kuroko’s parents they seemed to calm down, apparently they had thought they lived together alone. After that they kept making small chat, all of them knew better than to ask them what it was like to live together by now, they didn’t want another full explanation of their sexual life, thank you very much. The rest of the walk to the bus stop was nice, Tetsuya trying to convince Kagami to give Nigou a chance at his pace, taking things calmly since it would help him with his phobia in the long run. The redhead didn’t look convinced at all, but accepted the idea of bringing Nigou sometimes. 

 

The Interhigh finally began and all the miracles received the same message from Akashi ordering them to gather together. Tetsuya sighed, he didn’t want to keep being ordered around by Akashi but knew better than to disobey to this kind of thing. not going to see them wasn’t worth all the problems he would get for defying Akashi for such a small thing, and more importantly he had sworn to not escape situations like this, he would confront them directly. So he went to the coach and asked for permission to go to see his ex-teammates, which he was granted and Shougo went with him. He trusted Tetsuya, but he wouldn’t leave him alone with that group of weirdos. 

 

They arrived to see four of them already there. Everyone turned to them when they heard their footsteps. At first they just saw Shougo and immediately tensed, but then Kise and Midorima noticed Tetsuya was there too and greeted him. That made Aomine and Murasakibara’s attention switch to Tetsuya, who just nodded curtly. 

 

“What the fuck are you doing here Haizaki?” asked Aomine aggressively. Tetsuya frowned, displeased. Shougo just smirked, mocking and challenging expression in place. 

 

“Accompanying Tetsuya,” he said calmly. 

 

“Why the fuck would he need you to accompany him? Get the fuck out of here!” snarled Aomine. 

 

“Very well,” said Tetsuya coldly. He turned around and started walking, returning to his team. 

 

Aomine was taken aback at this and shouted, “Hey, Tetsu! What are you doing?”

 

“If Shougo can’t stay then I don’t want to be here,” he replied, looking coldly at Aomine. 

 

Aomine was surprised and confused by Tetsuya’s cold stare, but didn’t give in. “What? Why do you care?” Aomine demanded to know. “Wait a minute, SHOUGO?” He asked bemused. In all his years of know Tetsuya he had never heard the other address someone by their first name. 

 

Before Tetsuya could answer someone, appeared and replied, “They are teammates now, Daiki,” said Akashi. Aomine looked back and forth between Tetsuya and Akashi, not quite believing it. Then he noticed Shougo and Tetsuya were wearing the same uniform. 

 

“TETSU WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?” he yelled. Murasakibara looked surprised too, though he tried to look as bored as always. 

 

“Yes, we are teammates now,” was all Tetsuya said. That didn’t help to calm Aomine. 

 

“Why the fuck are you teammates with Haizaki, Tetsu? This piece of shit is just using you! He wants to get at us!” Kise and Midorima cringed. If Tetsuya had been annoyed at their accusations, how mad would he be at the fact Aomine just insulted Shougo? Not that they disagreed, but they had learned that a direct approach wouldn’t do any good. 

 

Sure enough, Tetsuya was so furious he let his emotions be visible in his face. This made Aomine take a step back, confused and a little wary. He knew how dangerous Tetsuya could be when furious and he certainly didn’t like the fact that it was directed at him. “Apologize. Now,” demanded a furious Tetsuya to Aomine, who couldn’t believe his ears. He didn’t say anything, something that just made Tetsuya angrier. 

 

Then Akashi interceded. “I’m sure Daiki didn’t mean that, he is just worried about you Tetsuya,” he said. Tetsuya stopped glaring at an uncomfortable Aomine to look at Akashi. Aomine didn’t say anything to that. When Tetsuya didn’t say anything either, Akashi kept talking. “I have to say I am surprised at your choice too, Tetsuya. I thought you didn’t like how we played. I recall you said to Shintaro that we will pay for how we treated your friend? Is Shougo not worse than us?” 

 

“If you had seen any of our games you would have noticed that Shougo hasn’t committed a single foul nor looked down on our opponents,” Tetsuya said with conviction. 

 

“EH? Kurokocchi is mad at us?” asked Kise with surprise. 

 

“Yes, I am.” 

 

“Eh? Why?” asked Murasakibara. 

 

“Yeah Tetsu, we didn’t do anything to you,” said Aomine with confusion. 

 

“You did not do anything to me, but you did hurt the two people I love above anything, besides my family. For that I will make you pay,” Tetsuya said coldly. 

 

“AH? When did we hurt someone? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about! Explain it Tetsu!” 

 

Tetsuya sighed. “If you do not know, I will not tell you Aomine-kun. You will have to discover it by yourself.” 

 

“What I still don’t get is what Haizaki has to do with anything!” insisted Kise. 

 

“I asked him to keep playing and he agreed to help me to reach my goal.” 

 

“Is that all? There must be a reason why you two are suddenly so close as to live together, and why you chose him as a partner,” pressed Akashi. Everyone froze at this, looking between Shougo and Tetsuya. Aomine and Kise yelled, Midorima dropped his lucky item and Murasakibara stopped eating for a second. Tetsuya just sighed calmly. 

 

“There is.” 

 

“Explain yourself.” 

 

“We have been really close since middle school.” 

 

“That is a lie, you never acted close before high school.” 

 

“We feigned not knowing each other, but the truth is that I had known Shougo before I knew any of you existed. He is the second friend I ever made.” That surprised them. Akashi frowned. 

 

“So you lied to us for two years,” he said, sounding angry. 

 

“Yes,” Tetsuya said calmly, a thing that was driving Akashi mad. 

 

“Why?” 

 

“Shougo didn’t want his reputation to affect me. But now it’s different, it was a mistake hiding it. We won’t hide anymore.” 

 

“You sound closer than usual friends. You looked really furious with Daiki for insulting him.” 

 

“Of course, he has no say about Shougo.” 

 

“And you do?” 

 

“Yes.” 

 

“That doesn’t sound like something a friend would say.” 

 

“We are not friends.” 

 

“Of course not! How could someone like Kurokocchi be friends with Haizaki?” interfered Kise, starting to recover from the shock. 

 

Tetsuya was getting angrier with each comment. They kept insulting  **his** Shougo, who did they think they were? They thought they knew Shougo when they didn’t know a thing. He couldn’t take it anymore. They had to understand that Shougo was his and untouchable. He thought about what he could do and reached the best and fastest solution. He shared a look with Shougo and he nodded. So Tetsuya grabbed Shougo’s hair roughly and, under the surprised gaze of everyone he pulled Shougo by his hair, making him bent down and kissed him roughly, dominating the kiss with practiced ease. 

 

You could heard a pin drop, even Akashi was shocked. Even in his wildest dreams he never had thought about this. 

 

They made out for a while and then Tetsuya broke the kiss, letting Shougo stand straight. They looked at their audience, all of them were still. Even Murasakibara, who had looked at the encounter with a bored expression after the surprise of them living together had dropped his snacks, his eyes wide with incredulity. 

 

“This… this is a joke right?” asked Aomine, voice weak. Everyone ignored him. 

 

Akashi was quick to regain composure and narrowed his eyes, a dangerous aura around him. “This nonsense ends here. Shougo, you will go to Shizuoka with your mother and stay away from Tetsuya.” 

 

“No,” Shougo said calmly. He wasn’t afraid of Akashi, not anymore. He sure as hell wouldn’t let the redhead take Tetsuya away from him, he wouldn’t leave Tetsuya’s side no matter what. Everyone but Tetsuya looked at him with surprise. They hadn’t expected submission from Shougo but they hadn’t expected him to plainly refuse like that either, not to Akashi. 

 

Akashi sighed and looked pleasantly at Midorima. “Shintaro, lend me those scissors for a moment, my hair is bothering me.” Midorima didn’t believe him but lent his lucky item anyway, it wasn’t like he had a choice. Akashi walked, stopping in front of Shougo and in a fast movement aimed the scissor at Shougo’s face. The Miracles suppressed a yell, that was too much! Then something even more surprising happened. 

 

Akashi blinked once, making sure he wasn’t imagining things. Sure enough, the scissor never reached Shougo’s face. Not because he had dodged, like a normal person would do; no, he was there standing calmly like he hadn’t been nearly stabbed by scissors. The reason was because Akashi’s hand had been stopped mid-air. Akashi looked at the culprit: Kuroko Tetsuya, who had a look of utter fury in his face. The grip on his hand was painfully strong, he pressed some places on his wrist and Akashi watched with surprise at how his hand opened and let the scissors fall to the ground. The other four were shaking, worried about their little friend and speechless over what he had done. 

 

Tetsuya let go Akashi’s wrist roughly. Akashi took a couple of steps back and looked at Tetsuya with narrowed eyes. “What do you think you are doing, Tetsuya?” he asked with cold fury. 

 

“That is what I want to ask, Akashi-kun.  **Nobody** hurts Shougo, not without suffering consequences. This is your last warning, try something with one of us again and I will not take it easy on you,” he said with false calm, his voice as cold as ice. Everyone tensed at this, the Miracles were worried about Tetsuya was putting himself in too much danger. Shougo was also tense, he knew Tetsuya was strong and could do this, but he still was wary of what the redhead would try. 

 

“I would like to see what those consequences are then,” Akashi said pleasantly, then narrowed his eyes. “I told you to not defy me, Tetsuya,” he added, and tried to grab Tetsuya’s shoulder. But he never made it. Something strange happened, he was sure he would’ve been able to reach Tetsuya’s shoulder, but again Tetsuya moved faster than him. This time he dodged and, taking advantage of Akashi’s extended arm hit it fast and accurately in particular places. Akashi’s arm went limp. He tried to lift it up but couldn’t, which caused him to panic. Everyone but Shougo was surprised, since when Tetsuya could do something like that? 

 

“It will last just a few hours. I don’t think you will be able to play your match,” said Tetsuya, and with a last look left with a smirking Shougo in tow. Leaving a bewildered Generation of Miracles behind, who still couldn’t believe any of this was real. Akashi narrowed his eyes at Tetsuya’s retreating back. It seemed he had underestimated him, if this were the consequences for messing with the couple.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to my awesome Darkwoods <33333


	6. Tournaments and Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I wanted to finish chapter 7 before post it, but I don't know what to do with that chapter so I gave up and posted it with the chapter unfinished.

Akashi tried to lift his arm, and nothing happened. He tried to move his fingers and discovered he could, so it just affected his arm, which was interesting. His thoughts were interrupted by a yell. 

 

“WHAT WAS THAT? How did Kurokocchi do that? How it’s that possible? Since when could Kurokocchi do that?” asked Kise. Akashi didn’t have answers to any of those questions, but it seemed that someone else could reply to at least one of them. 

 

“I do not know the exact name, but I do know how it works. Kuroko hit the vital points on Akashi’s arm. it’s a method of self defense, a lot of martial arts use them. It requires a lot of precision, you have to hit the right spot with the right force. Hit too light and the immobilization will last just a few seconds, do it too hard and you can made the person faint or actually kill them,” said Midorima. 

 

“Interesting, how do you know this, Shintaro?” 

 

“It’s common knowledge in medicine, they work similarly to pressure points.”  

 

“I see, it seems that once more Tetsuya has exceeded my expectations. This exceeds even my imagination.” 

 

The rest of the Generation of Miracles didn’t dare to say or do anything until Akashi said they could go. Akashi succeed in hiding the fact he couldn’t move one of his arms from his team and the coach. He hadn’t planned to play in the match so nobody thought anything about the fact he wasn’t playing. He tried to lift his arm every ten minutes to no effect, Tetsuya didn’t lie, it took a few hours and well after Rakuzan match to be able to use his arm again. 

 

Finally it was time for the match between Seirin and Too. All the miracles gathered to see the game at Akashi’s order. Seirin was strong, but it seemed that the redheaded player got stronger with each match. Something that Kise pointed out was that he seemed to be like them. Akashi nodded at this. “It seems that having someone near his level on the team made him blossom quicker than if he were the only one this strong on the team,” he said, referring to Shougo without saying his name. It wasn’t necessary, everyone understood perfectly, they didn’t like Shougo but couldn’t deny the fact that he was strong. 

 

The match was difficult, Aomine played at his full and at the end Seirin lost to Too. Aomine still won, but by the smallest gap than in any of his other games; and not without a price. Aomine, Shougo and Kagami ended up injured because they strained their bodies to their limits during the match, and they wouldn’t be able to play the next games. Seirin gathered in the locker room after the game in high spirits. Despite having lost they had given it their all and so had their opponents, so they didn’t have regrets. They knew they had to become stronger so they were fired up with motivation. It would be difficult without Shougo and Kagami, but they would manage. There was always next time. Even though they lost their next two next matches, they were still able to advance to the Winter Cup. 

 

Shougo was angry and frustrated. Even with him, Tetsuya, and the rest of Seirin’s combined efforts they couldn’t manage to win against Aomine. The only comfort he had was the knowledge that Aomine strained to the point he got injured, and the fact that they would have more time to train and come back stronger. He had injured himself too but it was a small price.

 

After their three consecutives losses Kiyoshi Teppei came back to Seirin and found them practicing normally. He smiled, happy to see that the losses hadn’t affected their teamwork and asked who the ace in their team was. Shougo and Kagami looked at each other, and after an awkward and tense staring contest with attempts to point at themselves before thinking it better, they grudgingly shrugged. Kagami recognized he was getting strong, but Shougo was still stronger than him. But not for too long, he would become the best. 

 

Shougo knew he was still stronger than Kagami, but he had eyes. He knew that Kagami had more potential than him. Years ago he would’ve deny it, but being at Tetsuya’s side for so long has given him the ability to think more objectively and recognize when others were better, so he wasn’t sure if he was the ace or not. Kiyoshi watched this and his smile grew, the new members were good for the team. 

 

The time for their training camp arrived. Since Kagami and Shougo were still injured they weren’t allowed to train, so they just sat there watching them train on the beach with Shutoku. They were getting more and more frustrated with each day of just sitting around, especially Kagami, who was told to write things with his left hand. When he asked about it coach said that since he couldn’t keep training his legs he would start to train his left hand to be able to have a proper air fight. He took the training seriously but that didn’t mean it wasn’t boring or frustrating, he asked coach to give him a special training menu for his legs after the injury. Shougo spent the days analyzing plays. It was also extremely boring but he didn’t have any other option since it was an order from coach. 

 

When the training camp was finally over, they went to see the Too vs Kaijo match. It went just as expected, yet for some people it was still a surprise, even Seirin hadn’t been sure about the result of the match. But to Tetsuya and Shougo it had been obvious. There was no way Kaijo wouldn’t win. 

 

Aomine was furious with everybody. So what if he was injured? Playing against Kise was something he had been anticipating, and then they didn’t let him play just because of some stupid injuries. Without him in the match Too obviously lost against Kise and the rest of Kaijo. That’s how the Interhigh ended for them; with just one satisfactory game in the whole tournament, the match against Seirin. He supposed it was to be expected, they had both Tetsuya and Shougo, and the rest of Seirin wasn’t terrible either. Especially that Kagami guy, he wasn’t half bad. His skills weren’t as good as them, but it was obvious that Shougo’s presence was making him blossom really fast just like Akashi said. It had been an exciting game, it was the first time in years that he had to use all his skills to win a match. Obviously he still won by a good gap, but it had been the smallest in all his matches and he actually enjoyed the match. He smiled at the memory, then his knees reminded him of the price of his victory and cursed. He didn’t regret playing at his full capacity, he would have lost if he hadn’t and more importantly, he had fun playing like that with Kagami and Shougo. What he didn’t like were the consequences and the fact that his team lost against Kise, something he knew would happen the moment they said he wouldn’t play. Yet no matter how many times he had told that to the coach, he didn’t change his mind and now they were out of the Interhigh. He would have to wait until the preliminaries of the Winter Cup to hope to play another interesting match. He may get to play against Seirin again or against Midorima, so he supposed it wasn’t so bad. He was still mad at the coach and Satsuki though. Later, he heard news that Murasakibara won against Kise and that both Murasakibara and Akashi were benched in the finals and cursed. He should have been in the finals, making Akashi play and take the game seriously. He cursed everybody again, expect Satsuki. Never Satsuki, no matter how mad he was at her. 

 

Momoi was sad, Aomine seemed to hate her now. She ran to Seirin, where she found the whole team training, including Shougo, who was sitting on the bench due to his injuries. He stood when he saw her, a frown in his face. It still surprised her how much the teen had changed but she set that aside for another moment and ran directly to Tetsuya. Seirin saw her and stopped in the middle of their training. She was about to launch herself at Tetsuya while yelling his name when someone stopped her, shoving her away from him. She stumbled and looked up surprised. Between her and Tetsuya stood an angry Haizaki Shougo. Seirin tensed, this wasn’t good. 

 

“Don’t you dare touch him you bitc-” Tetsuya cleared his throat, causing Shougo to stop mid-word. “He’s mine!” he finished talking. 

 

“Eh?” asked Momoi. 

 

Tetsuya sighed and walked to Shougo’s side. “Perhaps we should have this conversation elsewhere. Coach, can we leave for a couple of minutes? We will be back soon,” asked Tetsuya. Aida nodded, understanding the situation. The three of them left the gym. 

 

“What is going on Tetsu-kun? What did he mean by you being his?” 

 

Tetsuya looked Momoi straight in the eye. “I am currently in a romantic relationship with Shougo,” he explained. 

 

“Eh? Tet-Tetsu-kun is… is that a joke?” Her voice was full of incredulity. 

 

“No, it is not. I am very sorry for not being able to return your feelings Momoi-san,” said Tetsuya while bowing. 

 

“So that’s why… since when?” 

 

“Since our second year of middle school.” 

 

Momoi’s eyes widened. “That long? So… you two are official…” 

 

“Yes, we are.” 

 

“Are… are you happy?” 

 

“Yes I am,” said Tetsuya with soft eyes. 

 

“I… I understand, I’m happy for you, Tetsu-kun,” said Momoi with a weak smile, eyes full of tears, voice trembling. 

 

“So why did you come Momoi-san, can I help you with anything?” Tetsuya asked politely at seeing Momoi wasn’t leaving. She looked at him and her face contorted with desperation. 

 

“What do I do Tetsu-kun? I think Aomine-kun hates me!” she shouted. 

 

Tetsuya and Shougo shared a look. “I am sure he would never hate you Momoi-san,” assured Tetsuya. 

 

“But he is so angry at me because I told the coach about his injuries! He said… he said…” She broke down crying. 

 

“I am sure he knows you did the best for him, he just said things he didn’t really mean out of anger. Go back Momoi-san, I am sure Aomine-kun is looking for you,” said Tetsuya. In another moment he would have patted her head or offered to escort her. But he had just rejected her, he knew any of those things would hurt her more so he refrained. He was sad at seeing her hurt and didn’t want her to be hurt any further. He did think of her as a dear friend. Momoi understood this and nodded smiling weakly at him and left. When she was out of sigh Tetsuya sighed and looked at Shougo. “Shoving her was rude and unnecessary. So was almost insulting her like that. You will apologize to her next time we see her.” Shougo looked away but shrugged and nodded.   


 

* * *

 

 

Himuro wasn’t expecting to find Kagami like that, he had wanted their first encounter in Japan to be in the Winter Cup, not in a streetball tournament. But he couldn’t change what was already done, so he greeted him. Kagami was his usual hot head self, but got hit in the back of his knees by one of his teammates, a short boy with light blue hair. That surprised Himuro, and he was surprised even more by Kagami’s reaction. He didn’t attack the boy, he just yelled at him, asking why he had done it. Then things got complicated when Murasakibara came just when they were about to start playing. He ignored everyone, including him and stared at the short light blue haired boy, who just stared back without saying anything. 

 

“Hi Kuro-chin,” said Murasakibara after a while. 

 

Tetsuya nodded his head curtly. Which surprised the rest of Seirin’s first years save Shougo. Himuro took in their reactions and assumed it wasn’t common for the teen to behave nearly rudely. He frowned, thinking on what Murasakibara could have done to deserve that treatment. 

 

Murasakibara just pouted. “Kuro-chin’s still mad at me.” 

 

“Yes, I am,” Tetsuya said coldly. 

 

“Eh, why? I don’t understand what we did.” 

 

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand.” 

 

“But I don’t want Kuro-chin to be angry.” 

 

“Once I defeat you my anger at you will disappear,” assured Tetsuya. 

 

Murasakibara frowned. “I won’t lose, not even to Kuro-chin,” he said with a dangerous tone. Tetsuya remained calm, looking Murasakibara straight in the eye, who got bored and looked around. His eyes locked with Shougo’s and he scowled. “So you’re still here, Zaki-chin.” 

 

Shougo smirked. “Hey Atsushi.” 

 

Murasakibara frowned. “Didn’t Aka-chin tell you to stay away from Kuro-chin?” 

 

“As if I’ll leave Tetsuya just ‘cause that shortie with a god complex tells me to.” 

 

Murasakibara’s frown deepened. “Don’t talk bad about Aka-chin, Zaki-chin. I’ll have to crush you,” he said and reached for Shougo’s head. But Tetsuya took Murasakibara by the elbow, stopping him. 

 

“Don’t make me do this Murasakibara-kun, don’t touch Shougo,” said Tetsuya while frowning, voice cold as ice. He knew that if he didn’t interfere Shougo would attack Murasakibara and that would just lead to trouble. He didn’t want Shougo to get into fights, especially ones he couldn’t win. He didn’t even care if it was him who got beat up in the end, but that wouldn’t happen, he knew Murasakibara wouldn’t touch him. 

 

Murasakibara looked at Tetsuya, he didn’t know what to do. Looking at what the short teen did to Akashi he was quite capable, so he wasn’t sure of just being able to just push him away while he crushed Shougo. That meant he would have to use force to do it but he certainly didn’t want to crush Tetsuya. A tense silence fell, nobody knew what to do. 

 

Himuro feared what the taller teen could do and decided to intervene. “Atsushi! What are you doing here?” 

 

Murasakibara looked at him. “I was looking for you. The coach said we can’t play unofficial games.” 

 

“Oh is that so? Then let’s go.” He dragged the taller teen out of there, eager to leave that atmosphere and to know what had happened there. Before Kagami could say anything they were gone. 

 

“Shit! Now I’ll have to wait until the Winter Cup to play against Tatsuya!” said Kagami. 

 

“I am sorry Kagami-kun,” said Tetsuya. 

 

Kagami looked at him and sighed. “It’s not your fault. He could have stayed, or gave me his number, or just said goodbye,” Kagami said with a pained expression on his face. Tetsuya found himself disliking this Himuro immediately. At that moment it started to rain, they rushed to the players tent for shelter. 

 

* * *

 

Kagami had been training by himself everyday before school, he was ready to play in the preliminaries. He was right, they won every game. Seirin was happy, they advanced to the final league without problem. 

 

Then just like last time, their first opponent was Too. They had trained like crazy, they were ready for this. It was a really hard game, Aomine and Kagami entered the zone, nobody knew how it would end, but Seirin had Shougo too, even if he couldn’t enter the zone he was a great help just as Tetsuya was. That day Aomine lost. Tetsuya looked at Aomine’s broken face, his anger gone. Now he just hoped this would help Aomine in some way, he had to heal, hopefully this will be the call-out he needed to take care of himself. No matter what, he had done what he could, for both Ogiwara and Shougo, and - even if he didn’t want to admit it - Aomine too. He sighed, two down, three left. 

 

The Shutoku against Kirisaki Daiichi match was something Seirin missed because of their own game, but they heard the results. It was an unwelcomed outcome, but they couldn’t do anything about it. They played Shutoku, who looked ready to get revenge, but they didn’t get it. Seirin won in the end. This time Tetsuya complimented them, something that surprised Midorima. 

 

“You are not angry at me anymore?” 

 

“My anger at you disappeared after I beat you the first time, Midorima-kun. It is not that I have forgotten, I won’t forget easily, but I am not angry anymore, not with you.” Midorima nodded, a bit relieved, an angry Tetsuya was dangerous and he had missed talking like this with him. He nodded to him and went to the lockers with the rest of his team, now relaxed even if he had lost. 

 

The day before their game against Kirisaki Daiichi the senpai told them about what had happened last year. Kagami was furious, Tetsuya was furious and disgusted and Shougo was angry, ready to beat this Hanamiya tomorrow. They wanted no more than make Hanamiya regret what he had done. But their senpai needed them, so Tetsuya swallowed his anger and made Shougo and Kagami do the same. 

 

The next day Seirin was tense. Shougo had problems containing himself to not commit fouls, in the end he couldn’t resist and gave some blows back, careful to not get caught by the referee. Kirisaki Daiichi hadn’t expected that. 

 

“Oh? It seems that you hadn’t been tamed after all,” said Hanamiya mockingly. 

 

Shougo sneered. “Like I would ever be tamed.” 

 

“Aren’t you too confident? We’ll turn all of you into trash today.” 

 

“I’d like to see you try.” 

 

Hanamiya smirked and made a signal. Shougo saw how Hara tried to hit Tetsuya, but instead of running towards him he just gave Hanamiya his most mocking smirk in return. “Ah ah, looks like you don’t know a thing even if you’re a genius.” Hanamiya crooked an eyebrow and turned just in time to see Tetsuya dodge calmly and steal the ball in the process. 

 

“Wha- how?” 

 

“Everyone makes the same mistake. I don’t know how many times I have to tell y’all, Tetsuya’s not weak, he can take care of himself,” he said while Tetsuya used an ignite pass that landed in Shougo’s awaiting hands. Kirisaki Daiichi changed the strategy, but it didn’t change the result, Seirin won. 

 

The last game of the final league arrived, and everyone gathered to watch the match between Shutoku and Too. It was a fierce battle, but at the end Too won. And with that Shutoku lost three matches. They were officially out of the Winter Cup. 

 

Seirin was leaving when Tetsuya saw Midorima alone in the distance, he asked them to go without him and approached the miracle. He looked at him with eyes void of expression and went back to looking at the sky. Tetsuya sat beside him and didn’t say anything. Until Midorima spoke. 

 

“Tell me Kuroko, why are you so angry at us? What did we do to deserve it? How did we hurt people dear to you? When was it?” The sudden wave of questions didn’t surprise Tetsuya. Midorima must have been repressing them for a long time and he had paid for what he did, more than necessary. He deserved the truth, or a part of it at least. He wouldn’t tell everything yet, he didn’t want to say it more than once. 

 

“I am angry because your careless actions hurt a lot of people. I do understand you are suffering too, I cannot begin to understand what you must feel. But that is not an excuse for what you did. Akashi-kun forced Shougo to quit basketball, but I suppose you knew that. How he felt after that… regardless of how he was, threatening someone like that, making him feel powerless and as someone lesser without being able to do anything about it. Do you know what he threatened him with to make him quit the team? It is personal so I will not tell, but it isn’t something anyone should be threatened with. Do you know Midorima-kun, how many opponents… quit basketball after play against us? And that wasn’t because of the lost, but because of how you treated them, like they weren’t worth your time. You hurt a lot of people, my very first friend among them.” Midorima looked at him speechless. 

 

“Were we really that bad?” he asked, suddenly looking very small. 

 

Tetsuya looked him in the eyes and nodded. “You did not play with your opponents nor did you mock them, but it was clear you were not taking them seriously enough. You were just following what you thought was acceptable behavior, actually you are the one I am least angry at, but being the least wrong of them does not make you right either.” 

 

Midorima sighed and looked at the sky again. “I see. I will take this as my deserved punishment then, fate wanted me to pay for my sins.” He stood and Tetsuya did the same. Midorima smiled at Tetsuya, it was forced and sad but it seemed he had come to terms with his loss. “Good luck in your future matches. Knock us all down from our thrones Kuroko. Makes us mortals again.” 

 

Tetsuya smiled and nodded. “I will Midorima-kun, I promise.” 

 

It was finally time for the Winter Cup, Seirin advanced without any problems until the quarter finals. They played against Murasakibara and Himuro. Kagami had become Tetsuya and Shougo’s best friend with time, so when they saw how hurt he was by Himuro’s actions they decided it was enough. They would have a serious talk with him after this game. 

 

It was a very difficult game, scoring against Murasakibara was nearly impossible, but Tetsuya hadn’t been practicing for nothing, his new shot took their first points. Kagami and Murasakibara entered the zone at the end of the game, Seirin nearly lost, but at the end they won. Shougo licked his lips, looking happy to see Murasakibara crying even if he tried to hide it. Tetsuya felt his anger leave his heart and he smiled at see real emotions in Murasakibara for once. Three down, two left. But first, they had to have a little talk with Himuro. 

 

The semifinales came and so did the match Rakuzan against Too, it was a match all the miracles wanted to see, but Kise, Tetsuya and Shougo had their own game to play. The results of Rakuzan’s victory didn’t surprise them. 

 

The game against Kaijo was difficult, Kise had grown up a lot in terms of abilities, it was like playing against all the miracles at once. Maybe it was because of that that Seirin felt so happy with their win. Shougo couldn’t look away from Kise’s crying face. This was what he had been expecting, to see Kise humiliated in front of so many people, he deserved it for taking his place. Tetsuya watched his boyfriend and sighed, letting the other have this but stopping him when he tried to film Kise’s crying face. The other tch’ed but relented. Tetsuya looked at the blonde and saw a glimpse of the old Kise and couldn’t help but feel hope for him too. But immediately shook his head, he didn’t have time for this, he had the most difficult one to take care of. Four down, one left. 

 

The match for the third place ended with Too victorious. It was now time for the finals. The match was very difficult, Mayuzumi Chihiro didn’t make things any easier, but Tetsuya had more experience with misdirection and tricked him. Dealing with the Uncrowned Generals wasn’t easy either, but Seirin managed. It was Akashi who was their last obstacle, like Tetsuya and Shougo knew he would be. They had to give every last drop of energy and power into the game. They even made the old Akashi come back, but not even that was enough for Rakuzan to win. Seirin still won. Shougo radiated an aura so smug Tetsuya could feel it, he had to physically restrain him from going to rub their win in Akashi’s face. 

 

Finally Tetsuya’s anger disappeared completely, now he just felt sad and tired. He must talk to them, and maybe now they would understand. The part of his heart that still loved them as friends - as a family - freed after his rage left, really hoped it will be possible. He missed them terribly, so much it hurt. He finally allowed himself to feel those repressed emotions, but he wouldn’t express them until they understand what they had done. He couldn’t wait. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my amazing beta Darkwoods


	7. Talks and Actions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, I finally decided to divide the last chapter in three short chapters because I didn't know how to join the three scenes I wanted

_ “This is not easy,”  _ thought Tetsuya, struggling to find the words. Tetsuya met his teammates at the same staircase as right before the Winter Cup; but this time, he is the one who summoned everyone. He counted the fact that all of them came at his call as a small victory. He closed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled, then he opened them again and looked them all in the eye. “I reunited all of you today to talk about something none of us want to, but we must. We cannot keep brushing this under the rug. I called you here to talk about Teiko, about what it did to us and about what you-  **we** did to so many people.” 

 

The miracles tensed at the mention of Teiko. None of them wanted to talk about it, it was a delicate matter. They were perfectly happy to brush that subject under the rug forever. But Tetsuya wanted to talk about it and they knew he would so they would listen to him, it was the winner’s privilege after all. Everyone except Midorima and Akashi - who didn’t know the details but figured it out by himself - got curious when they heard they’ll finally know what they did to make Tetsuya angry. They stayed in silence waiting for Tetsuya to start, but he looked at a loss, it was obvious he didn’t like to talk about this either. He stayed still in front of them with his eyes closed for a while. Until he inhaled and exhaled again and opened his eyes. 

 

“In our second year, we were happy at first, we enjoyed playing basketball. At least I have precious memories from that time. But, since the end of the second year… Things went wrong. You got too strong, and the school didn’t do anything to help you. Instead they used you for their benefit, they didn’t care about the emotional repercussions. That’s why you started to get bored of playing. You discarded team play, and with that… me. I wasn’t fine with it, but it was bearable thanks to Shougo. That’s not why I’m mad at you, I understand why you did what you did. You were lost, hurt and sitting on thrones you weren’t emotionally ready for. It destroyed you, and I can’t begin to imagine how you must have feel. But that doesn’t excuse what you did to so many people. I’m not just talking about how Akashi threatened Shougo with the ones he loves to make him leave the team. I’m talking on how you treated our opponents. I understand they weren’t a challenge for you, those were facts. But looked down on your opponents, made them feel like they were worthless. Yes, you did, you did tell people they were nothing. you fooled around with your opponents, making them feel insignificant, what you did was… disgusting. What you did to Meiko, Ogiwara-kun’s team… was cruel and disgusting. Do you… you know how many people quit basketball after playing against our team? Do you know how many… how… how many suicide attempts and… successful suicides happened? This is partly our responsibility. I’m as much as guilty as you, because I didn’t tell you to stop. I just gave up with you. It took you hurting a person I cared for twice for me to decide to do something. That’s why this is my responsibility too, it was my responsibility to take you down of your thrones and make you understand the consequences of your actions.” Tetsuya let out a big breath. He did it, he told them all. He looked at them, they were shocked, broken. He didn’t like that, it hurt him to see them like that. But they needed to know, needed to understand what happened. 

 

“We… killed people…” said a speechless Murasakibara. With tears in his eyes, he suddenly looked very small, like a little kid. 

 

“We were just kids. Kids that were made that way by the adults that were supposed to help us grow up as persons.” It was all the comfort he could give them. 

 

“We… we don’t deserve to play basketball anymore.” 

 

“Aomine-kun, don’t say that.” 

 

“Why? It is the truth Kuroko.” 

 

“Don’t say that too Akashi-kun. It is not true. Besides, what good would do if you stop playing? That would just be the easy way. A way for you to feel better with yourselves, but it won’t stop the pain these people suffered.” Tetsuya regretted his harsh words when he saw them flinch in unison. Maybe he should have said it another way, But it was the truth, he couldn’t do anything about it. He wouldn’t let them quit basketball for this. 

 

Tetsuya didn’t know how much time they spent in silence. Aomine punched the floor until his knuckles bleed, nobody stopped him. Akashi and Midorima looked like they were about to vomit. Kise did vomit. Murasakibara cried until his eyes were red and puffy. After what seemed like an eternity, Aomine let out a shaky laugh. 

 

“Names?” 

 

Tetsuya looked up in surprise. “I do have them, but may I ask why do you want them Aomine-kun?” 

 

“Isn’t it obvious? I have a lot of people to apologize to.” His face was serious and solemn. 

 

Tetsuya looked startled but smiled, proud of his ex best friend. The rest looked surprised too, but nodded and looked determined to do it as well, if a bit afraid of their reactions. But they knew they deserved whatever reaction they got, and they’d receive their punishment in silence, whatever it was. Tetsuya gave them the list but refused to let them go alone, insisting he was just as responsible for what had happened. The rest of the miracles didn’t think the same, but they let Tetsuya go with them, his presence was comforting and reassuring. 

 

They traveled across Japan apologizing to each one of them, having their home addresses and transportation thanks to Akashi. It took them the rest of their entire holiday’s free time and a bit of the weekends until they started their second year, but they managed to apologize to everyone. Most of them hadn’t wanted to see them and had closed the door in their faces the moment they saw them, sometimes they didn’t even let them apologize, they had to leave a letter for those cases. But a lot of them did let them explain and though most of them didn’t forgive them, some did. And that was more than enough. They visited each grave too, praying for the dead and apologizing to them. The last one was Ogiwara, he looked shocked to see the miracles including Tetsuya at his home, but he let them explain themselves and accepted their apology. Tetsuya and Ogiwara exchanged numbers. Tetsuya had renewed hope, maybe he could have his friend back.   


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll post chapter 8 once I have an idea of what to do with chapter 9


	8. Acceptance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so in the end I decided to not write chapter 9, I'll probably write a scene on Black is Darker than Gray tho

It was time for Tetsuya’s birthday and Seirin prepared a party for him in Kagami’s apartment. The miracles, their respective shadows, and Ogiwara were invited too, so soon the house was full of basketball players. Everything was fine until Tetsuya and Shougo started kissing. Ogiwara and Seirin were used to this, but the miracles weren’t and looked uncomfortable until Aomine couldn’t stand it anymore and yelled at them to get a room.

 

Shougo laughed. “Jealous, Virgin-kun?”

 

Aomine choked and looked angrily at Shougo. “What did you call me? You fucking fa- nevermind,” Aomine backpedaled in the last second. Tense silence filled the air. Everybody could guess what he was going to say and Tetsuya appreciated the effort he did to stop himself in time. But that didn’t mean he liked what had happened. He looked at him in reproach.

 

“Apologize, Aomine-kun.”

 

Aomine avoided Tetsuya’s glare, but after a few moments of uncomfortable and tense silence he relented and looked at Shougo’s direction without really looking at him. “My bad, that wasn’t cool.”

 

Shougo shrugged. “Not that I expected anything else from a virgin like you. Playing in games is the only action you're ever going to get. Maybe instead of humping your bed sheets every single night, desperate for Mai-chan, you actually beg a real girl to let you fuck her? There must be someone desperate enough.” He smiled mockingly at Aomine, choked laughter from the others was heard but it was repressed immediately. Aomine was about to yell at Shougo again when Tetsuya intervened.

 

“Okay, that is enough you two.” They glared at each other but stopped. The tense moment passed and everyone kept having a good time. Since that time Tetsuya tried to not put Shougo and the miracles in the same room if he could avoid it.

 

* * *

 

Time passed by and they were on the summer vacation of their third year. The miracles save Shougo and Tetsuya had gone to Satsuki’s house for a karaoke night, it was late at night and they were walking together towards Akashi’s house, where they’ll have a sleepover.

 

“Man Tetsu should be here.”

 

“Kuro-chin chose to spend time with Zaki-chin.”

 

Aomine grunted. “I still don’t know what Tetsu sees in that fucker.” Everybody silently agreed with him. They were taking a shortcut, crossing a park where they suddenly heard a loud moan. They stopped, a blush on their faces. They tried to go to another direction but there was no use, they had already seen who the couple was. They stilled in shock and embarrassment.

 

There they were Tetsuya and Shougo. Having sex. Just next to a street lamp. In the middle of the park. Tetsuya was penetrating Shougo hard from behind, who had his face on the floor, his butt on the air and legs spread wide. Shougo was naked while Tetsuya was fully dressed, Shougo had his hands tied on his back and there were little weights hanging from… nipple piercings? Tetsuya right hand was grabbing Shougo’s binding, the other one had a firm grip in the other’s hip, he raised one hand and slapped Shougo’s butt. **What. The. Fuck.**

 

“ **What the actual fuck** ,” Aomine blurted before he could stop himself.

 

Shougo and Tetsuya looked at them. Fuck. Shougo’s face was a mess, he looked so erotic. They needed to erase that expression from their memory urgently. Instead of stop Shougo moaned loudly again and pushed his hips to meet Tetsuya’s trust, that had become even harder.

 

He looked at them with the same blank expression he always wore, even panting and with a bit of sweat on his face he looked really calm for the situation he was in. “Good night.”

 

They looked at him incredulously. “That’s what you have to say? The fuck Tetsu?”

 

“I agree with Aomine, this kind of scandalous and degenerate behaviour is unacceptable!” Midorima was all red and refused to look at them.

 

Kise, Akashi, and Murasakibara were calmer, looking shocked and scandalized but not so much.

 

Tetsuya just nodded. “Yes I suppose it is. I am sorry.” But he didn’t stop, he just slapped Shougo’s butt hard, the slap sound echoing in the silence of the park. Shougo moaned loudly again and came all over the floor, Tetsuya followed soon. He sighed and pulled out of Shougo, tossed the used condom to the nearby trashcan and adjusted his clothes. Ignoring the miracles’ presence he went to where Shougo was and untied him, massaging his wrists and shoulders. He took a baby wipe from a backpack on the floor and started cleaning Shougo, who just let Tetsuya take care of him. After that Tetsuya took the weights off his piercings and gave Shougo a quick kiss. Shougo stood, giving the miracles a wicked smirk and got dressed.

 

The miracles were frozen on the spot. Until Aomine broke the silence. “So you have that kind of relationship, huh? I always thought Tetsu was the girl but it seems you’re the one who’s taking it on the ass.” Aomine was looking down on Shougo. “Who would have guessed you liked this kind of sick stuff, well I suppose it suits you. And you like to be seen or what? You looked like a real slut.” Aomine knew he had overstepped the moment that word came out of his mouth. He gulped in fear and slowly looked at Tetsuya, who was looking at him with anger in his eyes. _“Fuck. I’m so dead.”_ “Look, I didn-!”

 

“Save your excuses for someone who cares about them, Aomine-kun. Do you think Shougo is less than you just because of his sexual preferences?”

 

“Well…”

 

“I see, let me tell you something, Aomine-kun. What we do is none of your business, I do apologize to you for see us, but that doesn’t give you the right to belittle Shougo. He isn’t weak or lesser just ‘cause he’s a submissive. He’s way stronger than you. I dare you to do half the stuff he endures on a daily basis. You wouldn’t last ten minutes.” Tetsuya’s voice was icy and he had a frown on his face.

 

Akashi thought about it and conceded Tetsuya’s point. “You do have a point, Kuroko. But it is still inappropriate for you two to do this kind of things in public.”

 

“I like to be seen,” Shougo said without shame, his hands behind his head, a smirk on his face.

 

Midorima stuttered something incoherent and Aomine looked at him in shock. Kise looked surprised and uncomfortable.

 

Akashi spoke again. “Well, I do not know much about... this kind of stuff. But I am pretty sure that most of them are dangerous if done incorrectly. Are you having sex in a safe way?”

 

Tetsuya smiled and nodded. “Yes, we do go to a BDSM club, where we had training for doing this kind of thing. You do not need to worry about it. Though your concern is really appreciated.”

 

An awkward silence followed that, until Kise broke it. “Em… shouldn’t we get going already? We need to go to Akashicchi’s house and all…”

 

“Yes, that is right.” After a couple of awkward seconds they parted ways.

 

After that nothing worth mentioning happened directly, but the miracles did have a different attitude towards Shougo. They still didn’t understand their relationship, but they accepted it. And that made Tetsuya happy.

 

* * *

 

 

Soon both Tetsuya and Shougo were in university. Tetsuya was studying to become a kindergarten teacher and Shougo was studying criminology. They had their own apartment together now. And even though they fought sometimes like any other couple, they enjoyed each other’s company and lasted together for life.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for anyone who has stayed to the end reading this shitty fic, and thank you for my awesome beta for being so patient with me I love you

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my awesome beta Darkwoods <3


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